Lunae
by babee-angel
Summary: GA ragnarok Online cross over. The gang lives in the land of Rune Midgard. Mikan tries hard to keep up with Hotaru and meets many new friends along the way. I suck at summaries and titles NxM no need for any knowledge of Ragnarok Online. Please R
1. The beginning

Intro:

This is a GA/Ragnarok Online cross over.

SilentWriter123 had another story GA/RO cross over where they are playing the game. I hope Silent will continue the story. Silent was fine with me writing another GA/RO cross over story :)

In my story the chars will be living in Rune Midgard (RO world). They will not have alices, I have not decided if I'll give them special abilities or not but they I'll keep their attitudes in mind.

for more information about RO you can check out the official ragnarok website or websites such as irowiki . org, I play on iro on the Chaos server (yes the real one) I'm currently taking a break to focus on school so I'll finish off my ro ff and do this one on the side cause I 3 GA

Chars I own: Assassin Cross, Gypsy, priestess, wizard, alchemist

If the skill names are weird to you it's because I'm on iro and the name of skills are slightly different from the other ro or private server

Anyways here's the story :)

Ch 1.

It's another peaceful morning in Prontera. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the merchants are setting up their shops on the street. The perfect start of a day …

"MIKAN, WAKE UP!!!" Ji-Chan's voice rang throughout the house.

"I'm sorry Hotaru, can you please go to Mikan's room to wake her up."

Hotaru nods and walks up the stairs to Mikan's room.

_This is a__ good chance for me to try that new spell_ Hotaru thought as she walked into Mikan's room.

Unaware of what is about to happen, the brunette is still sleeping peacefully in her bed holding onto her poring doll.

_"Napalm Beat"_

An invisible force hit the brunette making her fall off her bed.

"owwwww, porings….", Whimpered as she tried to sit up on her floor still groggy from just waking up.

"Baka, get ready before I hit you again"

Mikan blinks twice letting what Hotaru just said sink in, "Hotaru you meanie!! Wait, what did you hit me with?"

"A spell I was reading about. You know I am going to be a mage after today's test"

"How can you cast spells before you change? Is that even allowed?"

"What they don't know won't hurt them. Plus, the Mage academy should be proud that they will get such a skillful intelligent student."

Mikan sweatdrops

"Hurry if you don't want to be late for the test. It's important since it'll decide on your job class. Unless you wish to stay in town, find a normal job and never see the world."

"AHHHH, Give me 5 minutes, I'll go get ready now"

"Ok I'll see you downstairs"

_Several Minutes later_

"Bye Ji-Chan, I'll be home later tonight."

"Take care! Hotaru please look after her."

"I will, bye Ji-Chan"

_Ah, I can feel it, this__ will be the beginning of a great adventure_ Ji-Chan thought as he waved to the young girls heading towards their future.

"Hotaru, hurry, we got to get to the training ground!"

"We wouldn't be rushing now if you woke up on time this morning. If we're late it's all your fault."

"Gomennasai, I over slept."

"You better be sorry. We finally finished our training as novices and today is our test day to get out of the training ground. We can't be late for our test. By the way, Mikan, have you thought of what job you want to change into?"

"Eh…no I haven't thought of it yet. I mean, there's so much I want to do that I just can't make up my mind. But there are some jobs I'm sure I'm not going to do. I'm not smart like you so I would not make a good magician and there's no way I'll become a thief. But that's 2 jobs out of the 7 possible jobs, I still have 4 to choose from. AHHH what will I do."

Hotaru shakes her head, "Why don't you pick something that will suit your personality and your abilities. I know another job you can't do, you can't be a swordsman. I doubt you'll be able to fight with heavy swords. If you're really stump you can look at which second job you would like to be and choose your first class job accordingly."

"True…I won't be able to pick up heavy swords...What do you mean pick a job that suits my personality? What is my personality? And second job?!"

Hotaru sighs, "You really don't know anything do you. Don't you remember from the textbook? After first class job comes second class job. Each first class job has two choices for second class job. For example, my first class job will be a mage, for my second class job I have a choice between becoming a wizard or becoming a sage."

"ooooooo, now that you mention it, I think I remember reading something like that."

"Further more, if you're skilled enough to get acknowledged by the valkyrie you transcend to a new level. But since you don't even remember what second classes are, the test today should help you decide. As a part of today's test they will perform a personality test to see which job is the most suitable for you. It's only a recommendation so you do not have to take it. For me, since I know I want to be a mage I will probably ignore whatever they tell me and proceed with becoming a mage."

"Oh…I see. YAY They can't tell me what job is good for me. I don't have to worry anymore!"

Hotaru shakes her head "such a simpleton, anyways we're here. Let's go take our test."

ok that's it for ch 1

R&R please

Will find out what job Mikan gets in the next chapter :)


	2. Mikan's job

Hi guys, I thought I would squeeze in another update before school gets really busy :)

Mikan's Job is revealed in this Chapter.

YAY

Thanks for all the reviews :) They're really appreciated.

* * *

Ch 2 

_At the training ground_

"Listen up people, everyone that is schedule for the today's test; please proceed to the test area immediately."

"YAY, looks like we made it just in time" exclaimed Mikan

"Come on, lets get this over with. I want to get my job changed as fast as possible." Replied Hotaru as she takes a seat in the examination classroom.

The examiner at the front of the class began giving out information about the test as the novices were settling down, "All right, as soon as everyone takes a seat the examination will begin. There are 2 tests in front of you. The first one is to make sure you understand the basics to be an adventurer. The second test is a personality test that will be used to make a recommendation for what job is best suited for you."

"Ok, everyone is settled in. You may begin."

With that said the novices began to scribble away.

_At Noon (several hours after the test was written)_

An announcement was heard throughout the training ground.

"Attention: the test results have been posted. Please go to the bulletin board to view the results. Once you're done you can talk to the guard to get warped to the appropriate location for your job change."

"Hotaru, lets go!!!" Mikan exclaimed as she grabbed Hotaru's hand and dragged her all the way to the bulletin board.

"Baka, let go of my hand"

"eh…heehee, oh look here are the results" Mikan said trying to distract Hotaru from hurting her for holding her hand earlier.

"Ah, Hotaru, they recommended you to be a Magician! You got what you wanted."

"Of course I would. Even if they didn't give me that recommendation I would still go ahead and become a magician."

"Oh yeah…heehee. Now let's look for my name."

…

"AH there it is"

_Mikan Sakura ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Acolyte_

"It looks like I'll go and change into an acolyte! Come on Hotaru, I can't wait. Lets go!"

"Baka, do you even remember what Acolytes do?"

"eh…they help people?"

Sigh "Yes, if you choose to become a priestess you can go the path of supporting people as an acolyte. Remember the second job class for Acolyte is to turn into a priestess or a monk. Although you are really not the fighting type so I doubt you'll change into a monk."

"Thanks a lot Hotaru, I don't know what I'll do without you. I'll do as you say and work hard to support people. So now let's go and get our job change!"

Hotaru shakes her head "I need to go and apply to become a magician in Geffen, you need to go to Prontera to apply for your job change. I'll see you after we change."

"Awwww, but I want to go with you. Why don't I go with you to Geffen to wait for you and then you come together with me to Prontera!"

"Mikan you have to do this on your own. I won't always be there for you."

"What are you talking about?! We're best friends, of course we'll be together forever."

"Just go to Prontera and I'll meet up with you later. You don't want to get hit by my spells do you?"

Mikan sighed dejectedly, "There's no point in fighting with you is there."

Mikan takes a deep breath in and smiles again, "Ok fine I'll get a warp back to Prontera and I'll meet you at my house after! Don't be late!"

As Mikan runs to the guard to get a warp, Hotaru stays behind thinking _Sayonara Mikan._

_At Prontera church_

"Sumimasen, I want to become an Acolyte! Where do I go to sign up?" Mikan asks a priestess inside Prontera church.

"Go to first room on your right and talk to the priest in that room. Good luck." Replied the priestess.

"Thank you" Mikan replied as she runs off in the direction she was told.

"Hi sir, I would like to sign up to become an Acolyte."

"That's great! Here fill out this form first."

_Name: Mikan Sakura_

_Date of Birth: January 1, 1995_

_Age: 13_

_Novice training status: Complete today_

"Here's the form back."

"Ok let's take a look. You're from the batch of novices that completed their training today and you're already here! You sure are anxious to change into your job now aren't you."

"Yup, I'm really excited."

"Haha, that's good to hear. Ok for your test I need you to deliver this message to Father Rubalkabara who is currently staying at the Monk's training ground North East of Prontera. Please delivery this message to him and return here when you're done."

"Ok! I'll be back soon."

"Be careful! Do not provoke the Yoyos on your way to see Father Rubalkabara!"

"Thank you for the warning. I'll be careful." Mikan replied as she ran to the door to begin her test.

* * *

Yes I'm evil. I gave her the hardest test out of the 3 possible people to go to

But it's much more interesting for her to go see Father Rubalkabara then the other people :P

I was lucky when I made my aco and got the sister that is just outside Morroc heehee

I have most of the plot planned out and the classes for basically everyone.

Here's a preview of next chapter

She squeals' in delight at the sight. There was a cute little monster (that in our world looks like a monkey) scratching it's head. Not knowing that the monster was a Yoyo, she approaches it to try to talk to it.

"Hey there little guy, what are you doing out there? Want to go play?!" Mikan said as she approached the monster.


	3. Yoyo!

Hi Guys,

I think I'll be updating every 2 weeks now. I'm really busy with school so it's kinda hard for me to update every week.

I made this chapter extra long to make up for the lack of update last week. :)

Yes I made her go to the hardest place, but if I didn't it would be too easy and there's no fun in that :P

Well here's the next chapter. Enjoy

* * *

Ch 3 

Mikan is happily skipping along paths in the forest on her way to the monastery not aware of all the danger around her.

Luckily she kept to the middle of the path and most of the Mandragoras (plant like monsters that can't move but have range attack using their vines) are found by the roots of trees. It is possible for Mandragoras to grow on the path; however they are often quickly disposed of by adventures that pass by.

As Mikan skips to her destination, she hears squeaks coming from behind a bush along the path. Curiosity got the best of her and she decides to check it out. She squeals' in delight at the sight before her. There was a cute little monster (that looks like a monkey) scratching it's head. Not knowing that the monster was a Yoyo, she approaches it to try to play with it.

"Hey there little guy, what are you doing out there? Want to go play?!" Mikan said as she approaches the monster.

The Yoyo is frighten and started hissing at Mikan so she would go away. However since Mikan is a little dense, she was oblivious to the fact that it didn't want her to come over. She went closer to the Yoyo and tried to pet its head when the Yoyo tried to scratch her hands with its claws. Then the Yoyo started to scream in a loud voice. Similar cries were heard coming from different directions and Mikan started to get scared. She turned around and started to run.

However the cries from the Yoyo did not go away. She turns her head back for a peak as she was running and found that a mob of Yoyos were chasing her.

_OMG, I'm too young to die. Why are they chasing me, I just wanted to pet it. _Mikan thought as she continued to run.

"HELPPPPP" She cried out loud as she ran down the path as fast as her feet would carry her.

_Throw Spirit Sphere_

A squeal from one of the Yoyo's chasing Mikan was heard before it fell down onto the ground.

Mikan decides to take a peak to see what happened and looks behind her as she continues to run. Because she can't see what's in front of her she runs directly into someone and bounced off their armor. Before she could fall onto the ground a strong arm wrapped around her waist and lifted her up.

Now she found herself sitting on someone's shoulder instead of lying on the ground and getting attacked by the Yoyos.

"Are you alright?" asked the stranger.

Mikan nods in reply.

"Ok hold on tight." He said as he took his sword in one hand and shield in the other.

Mikan can heard him murmur some words under his breath, then he said loudly

"Grand Cross"

All the yoyos that were attacking his feet fell onto the ground dead.

The stranger was sporting a wide grin proud of what he just accomplished.

_SMACK_

He was hit on the head by a second person that Mikan did not notice before.

"You idiot! Why did you do that? They're not undead or demon!"

Mikan recognizes that voice to be the same one that shouted "Throw Spirit Sphere".

"Well it worked didn't it? Just because it's a holy element attack doesn't mean it doesn't hurt normal monsters. Plus, I wanted to try out my new skill. Nothing wrong with that." He replied as he put Mikan down.

The female stranger shakes her head and smacks him again. Then she turns to Mikan and asks, "Are you ok?"

Mikan nods in response as she's still a little shocked at what happened.

"My name is Misaki and his is Tsubasa. What's yours?"

Mikan finally got over her shocked state and replied with a big smile on her face, "Mikan, Mikan Sakura."

"Ah such a pretty name", replied Misaki. "So why are you out here in this forest all by yourself? You don't look like you're strong enough to be training here yet."

"I'm trying to find Father Rubalkabara for my acolyte quest. I want to become an acolyte!"

"Ah I see. That's great. I just changed recently from an acolyte to a monk! So I'm your senpai!"

"You can call me too!!" Tsubasa interrupted.

"Why would she call you that? You're not even of the same class as her." Misaki argued back.

"So, it doesn't matter what class she is. Since I'm older and more experience I should be considered her senpai as well. Plus, I'm a crusader; I fight for God and use his holy powers! Just in a different way that's all. Hey, lets say we help her with her quest, it's dangerous for her to be here alone."

Misaki sighed, "I give up, arguing with you will get nowhere. Stupid stubborn boy." Then she turns to Mikan, "but I agree that it's dangerous for you to walk all by yourself. So we'll help you get to Father Rubalkabara."

"YAY, thanks senpai." Mikan replied happily as she made 2 new friends.

_At the Monk's monastery_

"That man over there is Father Rubalkabara. We'll wait for you here while you talk to him."

"Ok, thanks a lot" Mikan said before she ran to Father Rubalkabara.

"Excuse me, are you Father Rubalkabara?" Mikan asked the man.

"Yes I am, how can I help you?" he replied.

"I have to deliver this letter to you as a part of my acolyte test."

"I've been expecting you. Now lets take a look at that letter."

He takes the letter from Mikan and reads it. After reading it, he signs the bottom and gives it back to Mikan.

"Here take this back to the church. This will show that I have received the letter and you will be allowed to get your job change."

"YAY" Mikan replied jumping up and down for joy.

Then she realized what she was doing and stopped jumping. She gave a small bow and said "Thank you very much." Before she left to find her senpais.

Father Rubalkabara smiled and watched Mikan amusingly as she left the monastery. _Such an energetic little girl.__ I'm sure we can expect good things to come from her._

"Misaki-Senpai, Tsubasa-Senpai. Look look, I got the response. I can go change into an acolyte now!"

"Congratulations Mikan. Now all you have to do is walk all the way back to Prontera." Replied Tsubasa as he patted her on the back.

"OMG it's so far! I'll never make it back before night time."

"hahaha, I can help you with that." Replied Misaki

"Just don't let anyone know ok?" She said with a wink. Then she closed her eyes and concentrated.

_Warp Portal_

A portal opened before Mikan.

"Go on, step into it. That warp portal goes to the city of Prontera."

"Thanks a lot Misaki-Senpai, Tsubasa-Senpai." Mikan said as she disappeared into the portal.

"Ahhhh" Tsubasa cried out.

"What's wrong with you now" Misaki asks.

"We forgot to give her our contact information!"

Misaki hits Tsubasa across the head. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be bumping into her a lot in the future. Plus, we can go back to the church anytime to visit her." Misaki replied with a smile.

"Comon, lets go set up our camp for the night before it gets dark."

"Why can't we just stay at the monastery? You are a monk so we can stay there right?"

"Where's your sense in adventure?" Misaki replies and sticks out her tongue at him.

"Plus, the rules at the monastery are so strict. I want to go back if I don't have to."

Sigh, "Ok anything you say."

"Anything eh. Now be a good boy and set up the camp site."

"Yes master, anything else master?" he asked sarcastically.

"Now that you mention it …" Misaki replies with an evil grin.

* * *

Misaki is a Monk. I will make her build around Gulliontine Fist 

Here's a description of the skill Gulliontine Fist (from the game)

Guillotine Fist is the Monk's ultimate attack that consumes all of their remaining SP to deal massive damage to one target. Guillotine Fist is effected by race/size/elemental cards, but always remains a Neutral property attack.

Oh and for the skill she used to kill a Yoyo from distance is Throw Sphere Sphere

Using Spirit Spheres as a weapon, the caster will launch the spheres at a target. The amount of spheres used, cast time, and damage dealt increases as the level of the skill used increases.

Tsubasa is a Crusader that will be going Grand Cross/Heal build (since Misaki who is his lvling partner is monk so her heals will not be as effective as his)

Grand Cross:

Summons a Grand Cross around the caster, damaging the caster and enemies with Holy property waves. The skill lasts for 0.9 seconds, during which time the caster is immobilized.

Um...I think the other stuff is pretty much self explanatory. :)

Well until next time she'll meet her teachers...dun dun dun


	4. Goodbye

Sorry for the lack in updates.

I was really busy with school :( I had a killer week last week as well.

I hope this update will make up for it.

* * *

_In Prontera_

Mikan happily skips away from the church in her new acolyte's uniform. She couldn't wait to show her grandpa and Hotaru her new uniform.

"Ji-chan, I'm home." Mikan exclaims loudly as she enters into the house.

"oooo, welcome home Mikan. Oh my, you've changed into your first job." Ji-Chan replied as soon as he saw Mikan in her new job uniform.

"Yup, the job test said I should be an acolyte so I went to change into an acolyte."

"Ah, well do you know what an acolyte is supposed to do?"

"Help people! I like to help people."

"Yes it's always good to help people. I've raised a good granddaughter." Ji-Chan replied as he patted Mikan on the head.

_As long as she's happy, I'll be able to rest easy. _Ji-Chan thought while listening to Mikan happily telling him everything that had happened during her test.

"I'm so excited. I can't wait to tell Hotaru my story."

"It's late now; you can go find Hotaru tomorrow. Now go to bed."

"Yes Ji-Chan." Mikan replied as she ran upstairs to get ready for bed. She figured the earlier she slept, the earlier she can see her beloved Hotaru tomorrow.

_Sigh, it seems like she doesn't fully understand how being an adventurer works. I wonder what will happen tomorrow when she finds out._ Ji-Chan thought while getting ready for bed himself.

_Next morning_

Mikan wakes up all by herself! After yawning, she looks out her window where the sunlight is streaming through to watch the birds singing.

_Yes, today I'll go find Hotaru to show her that I'm now an acolyte. I can't wait to go train with her._

Mikan finishes getting ready and goes downstairs for breakfast.

"Ohayo, Ji-Chan" Mikan greeted as she sat down at the table for breakfast.

"Ohayo Mikan. There's a letter for you from the Church."

"Thanks Ji-Chan" Mikan replied as she munched on her toast.

A mechanical turtle comes and nudges Mikan's feet. She looks down to find the turtle with a letter in its mouth.

"Ah, this must be from Hotaru, I wonder what it is."

She quickly takes the letter from the turtle and opens it to read.

_Hey Baka,_

_By the time you're reading this I will already be in Geffen studying as a Mage._

_I figured you wouldn't remember how it works after changing into your first job so I wrote you a letter to remind you._

_Since we're not changing into the same job we will be studying at different schools. I will be studying at Geffen's Magic Academy while you will be studying at Prontera's church._

_Once all the initial training is done, you will be allowed to adventure off on your own to improve and get better to change into advance jobs._

_I doubt you understand what I'm trying to say, so here I'll say it to you plainly for your simple mind._

_I will not be seeing you until we are finished our initial training. Also, since I'll be trying to advance to my second job quickly I will be moving at a much faster pace than you can keep up. Do not try to find me while we're still in school._

_Don't cry baka, you look ten times ugly when you cry._

_Goodbye Mikan,_

_Hotaru_

_P.S. you still owe me money, make sure you have it the next time I see you_

"WAHHHH, what's the meaning of this. Why did she send me this letter using her turtle mail and didn't tell me herself." Mikan exclaimed between sobs.

Ji-Chan pats her head "Don't worry Mikan, you'll see her again one day. You know, you're going to be really busy with your training as well. Maybe the church will pair you up with her to do some practical training when you guys are still in school so you can see her before you graduate."

Mikan stops crying and looks up at Ji-Chan, "Hontou?"

"Well it is a possibility, I can't guarantee it, but it might happen. Don't worry about it Mikan, the faster you finish your initial training the faster you can meet up with Hotaru again."

"All right, I'll work hard so I can see Hotaru faster!" Mikan exclaims wiping the tears away.

"That's my girl. Now you should probably read that letter from the church! It should be important."

"Oh yeah, heehee I forgot about that one when I saw Hotaru's letter."

Mikan grabs the letter from the church and reads it.

_Congratulations for successfully changing into an Acolyte._

_This letter is to provide you information for your upcoming training as an Acolyte._

_The school year is divided into 4 different semesters. This is to accommodate all the different times novices graduate from their training. Each acolyte is expected to complete 2 semesters at the school before graduation and individual training._

_While you're in school, you will be living at the church dorm with all the other Acolytes. The dorms are separated into girl's and boy's dorms. The girl's dorm has a house-mother, a __priestess, that__ is there to help you while you stay at the church. _

_In the first semester, you will be in the classroom learning different spells, while in the second semester there will be a combination of practical training and classroom studies. _

_Once you pass your test after the second semester you can graduate from the school and go out on adventures on your own to perfect your skills. When you've obtained a certain level in using your skills you may return to change into your advance job._

_Your first day of school will be September 1, 2008. _

_Base on the survey you filled out after your job changed, we have enrolled you into the classes that focus on supporting people._

_Please have a look at your schedule enclosed with this letter._

_Once again congratulations and we'll be seeing you shortly._

_God bless,_

_Headmaster of the Acolyte's Academy _

"Hum, so you're going to be a supporting acolyte eh" Ji-Chan said after reading the letter over Mikan's shoulder.

"Yeah I guess. What does it mean to support other people?" Mikan asks

"Well, when you go on an adventure with other people, it means you'll be helping them instead of actually fighting the monsters. You'll be in charge of healing and providing different types of support spells as necessary. They'll teach you all the spells you need to learn at school."

"Ah I see. School starts in two days. I better take a look at my schedule and pack my bags."

_Schedule_

_Weeks 1-4_

_9:00- 10:00 Basic Survival Skills_

_10:00-11:00 Heal_

_11:00-12:00 Blessing_

_12:00-1:00 Lunch_

_1:00-2:00 Increase Agility_

_2:00-3:00 Teleport_

_Weeks 5-8_

_9:00- 10:00 Party system and your role_

_10:00-11:00 Divine Protection_

_11:00-12:00 Cure_

_12:00-1:00 Lunch_

_1:00-2:00 Ruwach_

_2:00-3:00 Warp Portal_

_Weeks 9-12_

_9:00- 10:00 Guild system and your role_

_10:00-11:00 Angelus_

_11:00-12:00 Aqua Benedicta_

_12:00-1:00 Lunch_

_1:00-2:00 Holy Light_

_2:00-3:00 Pneuma_

_Week 13_

_9:00-3:00 with lunch break at 12:00-1:00 __Preparing__ for the real world__: Learning about d__ifferent places and monsters in Midgard and the bordering countries_

"Wow I better start packing." Mikan said before running to her room to prepare for her training.

_Ah, so good to be young._ Ji-Chan thought watching Mikan prepare for school.

* * *

Next stop is the school :) 

We'll be focusing primarily on Mikan.

I'll try to explain all the spells as she is learning them. But the classroom setting will fly by because the more interesting stuff is the practical training :)

EDIT

SORRY i made a booboo with the dates for a schedule...i made it a 4 month long semester and that doesn't work if the school has 4 semester for a 12 month period oops :P

changed to 3 month

next update shall be up next week hopefully

I'm working on it...i don't want to post anything that's not good so please be patient with me. Just finished midterms and getting busy with my design project


	5. Acolyte Acedemy

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the long wait. Things just never end. I finally had a chance to finish up this chapter to post.

We'll get more technical in the next chapter with spells and stuff :)

Lets just get everything set up for now

* * *

"MIKAN WAKE UP, OR YOU'LL BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!" Ji-Chan screams in vain in weak attempts to wake Mikan up.

"5 more minutes please" Mikan murmured before rolling over to her other side.

Ji-Chan got frustrated and went over to Mikan's bed and tilted her mattress to one side so she fell off the bed.

"Owwwww" Mikan said as she slowly sat up on the floor.

"Now hurry up and get ready. You don't want to be late for your first day of classes."

"Yes, Ji-Chan." Mikan replied before heading to the bathroom.

Sigh, "What are you going to do when you're at the school all by yourself" Ji-Chan said while shaking his head.

After finishing her routine in the washroom she went back into her room to get dress and looked at her clock.

**8:30am**

"AHHHHHHHHHHH, I'm going to be late." Mikan screamed as she hurriedly got dress and packed her things for school.

"Bye Ji-Chan. I'm going to school now. Take care of yourself while I'm away at school."

"Don't worry about me. I'm still very strong and capable! Be a good girl while you're gone!" Ji-Chan replied while waving at Mikan who is now running towards Prontera chuch.

_At the church_

_Ding, ding, ding_

The bells are ringing signifying the start of school.

"I did it! I made it just in time." Mikan exclaimed as she step foot into the church.

She looks around, "where is everyone?"

Her eyes land on the bulletin board.

_Dear students,_

_Please gather in the main hall for the welcoming ceremony today._

_Signed Headmaster_

_Oh crap, I have to find the main hall_ Mikan thought as she sped off in search of the main hall.

_Crash_

"Owwww, that's the second time today I'm in pain." Mikan said.

"Are you all right?" The person that Mikan bumped into asked.

He reached out his hand to help Mikan stand up.

"Yes I'm ok. Sorry I'm in a rush. I need to find the Main Hall and I don't know where it is!" Mikan replied in a panic.

"Ah, you must be one of the new Acolytes. My name is Narumi-Sensei. I'll lead you to the main hall. The ceremony is about to begin so you're just in time."

"Thank you Sensei!" Mikan replied as she followed Narumi-Sensei to the main hall.

_Inside the main hall_

Several priests and monks and one high priest can be found on a stage at the front. There seems to be an empty seat waiting for someone.

"Here we are."

"Thanks for showing me where to go Sensei."

"It was my pleasure. Now I must get going." Narumi-Sensei replied as he headed to the front of the hall.

As Narumi-Sensei got onto the stage, the high priest got up to the podium.

Ahem, "good morning everyone. I am the head master of the Acolyte's Academy here in the church. I welcome you all today for the start of this new semester. Many of you are here for the first time and others are here for their second semester. There will be no classes today so please use the time to settle in at the church. I would like to introduce you to your Dorm Mother, Sister Serina, and Dorm Father, Brother Narumi. Both Sister Serina and Brother Narumi are teachers here so you may be in their classes. Please go to your dorm-mother and dorm-father to receive your room assignments after this ceremony. We have a desk set up on both sides of the hall for registration purposes. All female students will go to the registration table on the left and all male students will go to the registration table on the right side of the hall. New students, please familiarize yourself with the church as it will be your home for the next two semesters. Once again, we're glad you have chosen to become an acolyte and please enjoy your stay. Thank you everyone. Dismiss."

Once the High Priest leaves the podium the crowd started to get nosy again. All the new students started chatting with each other in excitement while the older students went around to greet old friends and classmates.

"Hi, my name is Yuki Chiba, what's yours" the girl on the right of Mikan said as she introduced herself.



"Hi, I'm Mikan Sakura, please to meet you." Mikan responded with a bright smile.

"Hey what classes are you guys in?" A male acolyte came and asked them.

"Um…I was put in the classes that teach all support spells." Mikan replied.

"I'm also going to be a support acolyte as well!" Yuki replied.

"Ahhh, then I'll be in some of your classes, the other class I'm in are about exorcising demons." He responded.

"YAY we'll be classmates! I'm Mikan Sakura! Nice to meet you."

"I'm Yuki Chiba. Please to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Aki Ichiro."

"Sakura-san, let's go and get our dorm assignment." Yuki said.

"That's a good idea. And please call me Mikan." Mikan responded

"Alright, then you have to call me Yuki, ok?"

Mikan nods in response

"Alright lets go, see you later Ichiro-san" The girls said before heading to the registration table for the girls.

_In Mikan's Room_

"Yessss, finally finished unpacking. I can finally go explore." Mikan said

"hum…I think I'll have a nap first, I'm really tired" Mikan said before plopping onto the bed.

_Ji-Chan, I made new friends today. I'm so happy. I think I'm going to like going to school here. _Mikan thought as she slowly drifted off to dreamland.

* * *

Thank you for all the reviews and story alerts !! VERY MUCH APPRECIATED

heehee no Mikan didn't bump into Natsume...he won't make his appearance for a while :P

I mean..really..u can't expect him to be an acolyte now can u? It's soooo not him :P

ok until next time

* * *


	6. Prontera

Sorry for the long delay!

I'm finally done exams.

However I am going on vacation for a month

I'll see how much I can get done before I leave on Sunday.

So much to do...I just finished exams today and I have to pack for my backpacking trip.

On top of that I still have dragon boat practice lol.

I'll see what I can do. :)

I really would like to move this story a little faster so I can introduce more GA chars.

I'm itching to introduce Ruka but there's still more lessons Mikan has to go through first :(

ok enough from me. Here's this chapter

* * *

_Next day_

"Good morning class! I'll be your homeroom teacher for the next four weeks! Some of you have already met me personally and I was introduced yesterday at the ceremony. But just in case you forgot, I'm Narumi-Sensei. Now, the first order of business for today, I will be distributing all the textbooks that you will be using for the next 4 weeks." Narumi said as he bent down to grab a huge pile of books and brought them onto this desk.

Everyone in the class sweat dropped at the sight of the skinny, feminine looking man picking up all those textbooks.

"So I want everyone to line up in a single file line and pick up one book from each stack! There is one textbook per course so make sure you get them all. Come on, don't be shy, come and pick up your books."

One by one, the students got out of their seats to line up in front of his desk to pick up their textbooks.

Once everyone had gotten their textbook, he started speaking to the class again, "Ok, now that everyone as their textbooks, the second order of business is to find a class rep. So do we have any volunteers?" Narumi asks as he looks around the room.

No one raised their hand.

"If that's the case I'm going to randomly pick someone!" Narumi warned while giving them a last chance to volunteer.

"Ok then, the girl with the purple hair in the 4th row, stand up and give me your name."

"My name is Yuki Chiba." Yuki stood up and replied.

"Ok everyone, Yuki is your new class rep. Yuki, your first job is to copy down the current seating arrangement and give it to me tomorrow. Well I have a meeting to go to, so today's class is self study! Read the first chapter of your Basic Survival textbook and wait for your next period. Tata." Narumi said as he ran out of the room.

Everyone sweat dropped at the sight of their teacher running out of the room skipping class.

Sigh, "Ok, please give me your names when I come to your seat." Yuki said as she started to make her way around to everyone.

_Time flies by- 3:00_

_RRRIIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG_

"Ah there's the bell, class dismissed." Misaki-sensei said as he dismissed the class.



"YAY we just finished our first day of class." Mikan exclaimed excitedly.

Yuki and Aki chuckles at her actions.

"You're so energetic Mikan," Aki comments.

"eh heehee, yeah I've been told that a lot." Mikan replies sheepishly.

"It's ok Mikan. You can look at it in a positive way. Adventurers need lots of energy when traveling. I'm sure it will work to your benefit." Yuki said.

"Thanks! Hey lets drop off our books and go walk around town before dinner." Mikan said.

"That's a good idea, I haven't had a chance to really explore the town yet." Aki replies.

"Oh? Where are you from?" Mikan asks

"Payon" Aki replies.

"Geffen" Yuki replies.

"Oh!! I actually live in Prontera. So I can show you both around town." Mikan exclaims.

"OOOOOO, maybe we can visit Ji-Chan too. I'm sure he'll be happy to meet my new friends." Mikan added excitedly as she started to walk towards the door.

"Alright, I'll meet you two at the main entrance after I drop off my books at my dorm." Aki said.

"Ok see you there," the girls replied as they head to their dorms.

_In the middle of Prontera_

"And here surrounding the fountain you'll find the 3 basic shops you'll need. The tool shop on the upper left corner, the armor and weapon shop is in the upper right corner and the blacksmith shop to upgrade your equipment is on the lower right corner." Mikan stated as she pointed out all the different shops that can be found in the middle of Prontera.

(AN. Picture a fountain in the very middle and a road/sidewalk around it with branches going out in the NESW directions so it looks like a cross with a fountain at the point of intersection. The shops are at the corners of that intersection.)

"Wow Prontera is so big!" Yuki exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's pretty easy to get lost if you don't know your way around here. But just remember the fountain since it's in the middle of the city. It's a good meeting location as well. Oh and if you walk south from the fountain, you'll see many shops that merchants set up along the side of the road. You can get really good deals sometimes and fine lots of items that you can't find inside the normal shops in the 

buildings since these items are from adventurers who travel around the world." Mikan said before moving to the next location.

"Hey let's go to my house next! It's just a little south of here." Mikan said as she led the way to her house.

"Ji-Chan!! I'm back to visit you." Mikan shouts from the doorway of the house.

"It's only been a day and you're homesick already?" Ji-Chan pops up in the doorway and asks her.

Mikan pouts, "Of course I miss you Ji-Chan. Don't you miss me?"

Ji-Chan pats Mikan on the head, "Of course I do, but you have to learn how to live on your own. I won't be here forever you know."

"What are you talking about Ji-Chan? Of course you'll always be here for me." Mikan replies innocently.

Aki coughed to get their attention.

"Ah yes Ji-Chan. I want you to meet my new friends. This is Yuki and this is Aki." Mikan said introducing her two new friends to Ji-Chan.

"This is my Ji-Chan." She said to her friends.

"Please to meet you sir." Aki politely shakes his hand.

"Nice to meet you." Yuki said as she shook his hand.

"Come in everyone. I'll make some tea. Make yourselves at home." Ji-Chan said as he ushered in his guests.

_In the living room_

Everyone has settled comfortably on the couches drinking tea and eating cookies.

"Were you also an adventurer sir?" Aki asked

"Yes I was! Back when I was young I travelled all over Midgard." Ji-Chan replies.

"That sounds excited!" Yuki chimes in.

"What class were you?" Aki asked

"I was a knight! See I still have lots of strength even at this old age." He replied as he picks up a broadsword that was on displayed on the wall with one hand and started to wave it around.

"Ji-Chan, that's dangerous! Put it away." Mikan scolded.

Ji-Chan sweat dropped and did as he was told.



Then he started to tell them stories about all the adventures he did when he was young.

_Time passes_

"It's getting late now. When do you have to be back in your dorms by?" Ji-Chan asks

"We have to be back by dinner." Yuki replies.

"That's in 15 minutes!" Aki exclaimed as he looked at the clock.

"Ah, you better run along now so you're not late." Ji-Chan says as he got up from his seat.

"Thanks for having us over Mr. Sakura." Aki said

"Yes, thank you for your hospitality M. Sakura." Yuki said thinking Ji-Chan as well.

"Ok Ji-Chan, we'll go back to school now." Mikan said while hugging her Ji-Chan.

"Take care of yourself, ok Ji-Chan" Mikan stated

"Don't worry about me, hurry up and head back to school or else you'll be late again." Ji-Chan said gently as he walked them out of the house.

"Take care of Mi-Chan for me." Ji-Chan asked Yuki and Aki.

"We will" They replied as the 3 of them headed back to Prontera church.


	7. Classroom

Hey guys,

Sorry for disappearing for a while.

Exams, then I left for Europe for a month.

Now i'm back I should be able to write again.

Thanks for all the reviews/alerts while I'm gone :)

* * *

_Back at the church_

"Let's hurry to the cafeteria before it's full" Aki said as they began to make a run for the cafeteria.

"No running in the halls" boomed a voice making the three of them come to a stop.

They turned around to find a stern looking priest staring at them.

"You may be new here but there is no running allowed in the halls." He said

"Sorry sir." Yuki replied as the three of them bow apologetically.

"You're lucky I'm letting you go this time. Make sure it doesn't happen again because next time you will be punished." He said as he walked past them.

"Wow, who is that?" Mikan asks.

"I think he's Jinno-Sensei. He specializes in exorcism spells." Yuki replied.

"How did you know who he was?" Aki asked.

"I looked through the school directory last night." She replied.

"Hey, if he teaches exorcism classes, doesn't that mean he'll be teaching Aki?" Mikan asks.

"I sure hope not," Aki replies.

"Come on you two, let go to the cafe." Yuki said as she started to walk towards the cafe.

Mikan and Aki followed Yuki's lead and went to the cafe together.

_As time pass_

A loud screech could be heard in the girl's dorm.

"AHHHHH, I'm going to be late" Mikan exclaimed as she rushed out of bed.

She hastily brushed her teeth and washed her face before grabbing the acolyte uniform on her chair. Once changed, she made a mad dash to class while fixing her hair into pigtails at the same time.

She slammed open her classroom door and bowed to the teacher.

"Gommenasai, Narumi-Sensei. I didn't mean to be late." Mikan said quickly.

"It's ok, we just started, please hand in your assignment about elements before going to your seat." Narumi-Sensei replied.

Mikan fished her assignment out of her bag and handed it in to Narumi-Sensei before heading to her seat beside Yuki.



"You remembered to do your assignment" Yuki whispered.

"Yeah, I almost forgot but I remembered just before I went to bed so I stayed up late to finish it." Mikan replied.

"Alright class, I want volunteers to come up and explain to the class each of the elements effect monsters." Narumi stated as he looks around the class for volunteers.

"Ok, you're forcing me to pick. Um…Shina-Chan, you're first. Explain why we should know the elements of different monsters."

Shina stood up and started explaining, "There are 10 different elements each monster bond to. The 9 elements are: Water, Earth, Fire, Wind, Poison, Holy, Dark, Undead, Ghost or they can be unbounded. It is important to know the element a monster is to efficiently kill the monster. How closely the monster is bound to the element will also affect how much damage you do to it. You will do more damage to the monster using an element effective against it if it is very closely bonded to its element." (In the game there's lvl 1 to 4 in terms of element. Lvl 4 would be what I have referred to as closely bonded.)

"Thank you Shina-Chan," Narumi said, "Next we'll have Ryuu talk about Water element."

"Water element monsters are weak against wind element weapons and strong against fire element weapons. If they are closely bonded with the water element then fire element weapons will do no damage to the monster. Water element weapon will do no damage to monsters that are not closely bonded but otherwise it will heal the monster. The amount of healing done depends on how close the monster is to its element. Examples of water element monsters are: Hydra, Marina and Merman." Ryuu explained.

"Thank you Ryuu, now next …"

_Ringggggg_

"Ah time for your next class kids. Bye." Narumi said before running out of the classroom.

Everyone expected that much from Narumi-Sensei if he ever decides to hang around for the class.

Their next teach stepped in after a 5 minute break.

"Good morning class."

"Good morning Sensei." They replied.

"Today I want everyone to get into pairs to practice your healing spell. Remember the more you practice the more effective your healing powers will get. It will also help you to learn how to focus when healing so that you may be able use your powers without any chanting." After that was said everyone got into pairs to start practicing.

Mikan and Yuki paired up to practice.



"Ok Mikan, you go first." Yuki told her

"Hai," Mikan responded. Then she brought her hands together into a praying position and chanted, "God, please grant me your power, ease the pain of your children. Heal"

Once Mikan said "Heal", a soft, faint, green light enveloped Yuki.

Yuki felt revitalized when the light enveloped her.

"Hey, you're getting better. Sooner or later you won't need the chant to focus your power." Yuki said as she patted Mikan on the back.

"Thanks Yuki, it's your turn now"

They continued to practice until they were spiritually drained.

"I see most of you cannot perform the healing spell anymore. You should remember how many heals you can do until you have completely drained your spiritual powers. It is very important to you're your limit when you are out in the field training. Remember to keep blue potions or fruit juices that will replenish your spiritual energy to use in emergency cases. In many cases you will find time to rest, but if you venture into dungeons or fields where aggressive monsters live it's always important to keep supplies handy in case they attack you before you had a chance to replenish your spiritual powers." The teacher reminded her class.

_Ringggg_

"I'll see you guys tomorrow. Remember to keep up with your training." She stated before leaving the classroom for the next teacher to come and take over the class.

_The days that have gone by turned into weeks_

"Everyone, today is your last day of class before your one week break. After the break you will be entering into the second phases of your training. Everyone will be assigned a mentor who will supervise your field training and studies. You will not be training with your mentor everyday as each mentor has several students. Sometimes you will train in a group and sometimes you'll be off on your own. When sent on your assignments alone, do not be afraid join together with other people training. Well have a safe and happy break." With that said Narumi-Sensei dismissed the class.

* * *

I hope I didn't rush too much.

But classroom is sort of boring so I wanted to finish it asap.

Field training will be much more interesting...that and I really want to start introducing other people (ie Ruka) soon. :)

Yup that's a hint. Ruka shall be making an appearance soon.


	8. Vacation time!

Sorry for the wait

I was gone backpacking in Europe for a month and then I got stuck in a writers block.

That and ragnarok stopped me from writing since it was having all these events that i had to do :P

But now the events are over I can start writing again.

I finally over came my writers block as well. I knew what I wanted to write but it just wasn't working.

I finally managed to get something out and it satisfied me :P

Thanks for waiting.

* * *

"Ji-Chan, I'm home!" Mikan announces as she walked through the door.

"Ah, Mikan, you're back again. You know you don't have to visit me all the time. I'll be fine."

"Ji-Chan, I'm not back for a visit. My 1 week break starts today so I came home. I already finished my first semester at school. So I'll be home for a week before I start my second semester." Mikan explains.

"Wow, one semester has gone by so fast. Why don't we go have a talk in the living room and you can show me how much your skills have improved." Ji-Chan suggested.

"That sounds great, let me drop off my bags in my room first. I'll meet you in the living room Ji-Chan."

_After a while_

"You're learnt a lot Mi-Chan but it seems like you need more practice."

"Awwww, everyone has been saying that to me."

"Well it's true, your skills will not improve if you don't use them."

"Yes Ji-Chan; Anyways I think I'll go visit Hotaru. I haven't seen her in so long."

"It's getting late. Why don't you visit her tomorrow when you wake up."

"But Ji-Chan," Mikan began to protest.

"No buts, it's too late right now to go over to Hotaru's house."

"Yes Ji-Chan." Mikan said defeatedly, "I'll go to tomorrow then. I'm getting hungry now anyways. I'll go cook dinner now." Mikan said as she went to the kitchen.

_Next day_

"Ji-Chan, I'm going over to Hotaru's. I'll be home for dinner."

"Have fun Mikan, remember stay out of trouble."

"I will Ji-Chan," Mikan replied as she ran out the door.

"_YAY, I finally get to see Hotaru. I haven't seen her in so long. I hope she misses me too." _Mikan thought as she ran to Hotaru's house.

_Ding Dong_

"Mi-Chan! How are you? I haven't seen you in a while."

"I'm good Mrs. Imai, I've been busy at the academy so I haven't ablr to come to town a lot."

"Ah yes, I can see you're now an acolyte. Do you like it?"



"Yes I do, I like to help people." Mikan replied with a big smile.

"That's good, it's very important to pick a job you enjoy."

"Mrs. Imai, is Hotaru in?"

"Oh she hasn't told you? Hotaru is still in Geffen at the mage's academy."

"But I thought she would have vacation as well!"

"She should be on vacation right now but she wants to finish her studies faster so she stayed in Geffen."

"Oh, I see" Mikan replied sadly.

"Don't worry Mi-Chan, once both of you graduate you can go off on adventures together!"

"Ah that's right. Well I better get going then! I'll come visit another day Mrs. Imai."

"Have a good time sweetie." Mrs. Imai replied as she watched Mikan run off into town again.

"_Hum…what should I do" _Mikan asked herself.

"_Oh, I know, I can go to my favorite place."_ Mikan thought as she headed to the south Prontera Gates.

"Good afternoon" She said to the guards as she passed through the gates.

Once outside the city she walked to the west of the gates where there's a small forgotten garden.

Yes, this garden is Mikan's favourite place. This is where she comes to relax and enjoy the beauty of the garden.

The garden is in the shape of a circle. It's quite well hidden as it's all surrounded by trees. Wild flowers now grow where the flower beds are. There are several benches has survived over the years when the garden was forgotten.

"Ah it's been a while, I missed this place." Mikan said as she walked past the benches and sat down below a tree.

"_I wish Hotaru was here too. But I guess I'll just have to wait until after graduation to see her again. She's been so busy that she doesn't even respond to my mail anymore."_ Mikan thought with a sigh.

"_I'm getting tired. I couldn't really sleep last night since I was so excited to see Hotaru again. I think I'll take a nap while I'm here" _Mikan thought as she closed her eyes and drifted off to dream land

_Dawn_

_Whoooo Whooo_, Sounds of creatures can be heard in the garden. (A/N sorry for my horrible imitation of an owl )



Mikan slowly wakes up from her slumber.

"Yawn, that was a great nap. OMG the sun is going down. I must have slept for a long time. I better hurry home before Ji-Chan gets worried." Mikan exclaimed as she jumped up from her sleeping spot.

"Good bye Mr. tree. I'll be back for an other visit as soon as I get the chance." She said as she ran out of the garden.

What Mikan didn't notice was a pair of eyes, watching her every move from the branch above where she was sleeping. The person stepped out of the shadows and sat down under the tree after she left. Once settled he slowly blended in with the shadows once more.

* * *

I'll try to have the next one out by next week...

i'll try!!

as for my other story...i'm still stuck for that one

...just donno how to continue...so hard to make her mean

anywayssss

i believe the next chapter will finally have Ruka appear :)


	9. 1st Assignment

YAY new record for longest chapter from me :P

yeah it's 2x exp on ro right now but i still managed to write this

got sinx to 93 and job 44 for high merch

sigh...back to the grind for more lvls after this :P

AH YES I almost forgot...

you can go to irowiki . org to get lots of information about the game if you're interested

like the different classes, skills, equipment, etc

rocards has a great world map...just google rocards world map and u'll probably find it :)

Thanks guys for the reviews and alerts

Hope you enjoy this chapter

EDIT

I have edited the chapter below!!!

My guildie have figured out a way to write about the cards and it's awesome so i shall be changing it now

* * *

_Back at the Academy_

"Hi guys, how was your vacation?" Mikan asked

"It was great, good to see my parents again." Aki replied.

"Yeah, you're lucky your Ji-Chan live in Prontera so you can see him pretty much every weekend." Yuki chimed in.

"I guess I'm pretty lucky. But Ho-Chan didn't come back for vacation." Mikan replied with a pout.

"Ho-Chan?" Aki asked

"Hotaru, my best friend." Mikan replied.

"Oh yeah, the one you keep on talking about." Aki said

"Don't worry, you guys will see each other another time." Yuki said to comfort Mikan.

"Thanks Yuki, you're the best" Mikan replied smiling at her.

"So who did you guys get assigned for mentors?" Aki asked.

"I got Narumi-sensei" Mikan said

"HA, you got the gay sensei!" Aki commented.

"Don't say that, it's not nice. Narumi-sensei is a very nice person." Mikan replied

"His headgears are quite strange and girly," Yuki commented

"It doesn't matter! I like cute headgears!" Mikan stated

(A/N in Ragnarok, each class has their own uniform. Since Narumi is a priest...he wears the priest uniform. In game, what headgears you wear show up on your sprite. That's sort of how you can make yourself look different from everyone else...altho many people still look the same :P there's only so many headgears in the game heehee So I'll make Narumi wear really girly headgears here :P Like...karfa band)

"Haha, ok Mi-Chan. What about you Yuki?" Aki asked again.

"I got Serina Sensei. What about you?" Yuki asked in return

"I got Jin Jin" Aki replied with a shudder.

"I'm glad I'm a support priest." Yuki stated while Mikan nods in agreement.

"Oh shud up." Aki said, "Comon, we better get going before we're late. I can't be late to meet Jin Jin or else he'll kill me."

The girls giggled and followed Aki.

_With Mikan_

"Ohayo Narumi-Sensei" Mikan greeted her teacher.

"Ohayo Mikan." Narumi-Sensei replied

"Where are the others?" Mikan asked.

"Oh, I like to meet with my students one on one, so I'll be meeting with each of them later." Narumi replied

"A, so desu ka."

"Yup, anyways, here's your communicator. This is what you'll be using to stay in contact with other people all around Midgrid." Narumi said as he handed Mikan her communicator.

(A/N...think...cell phone...but u wear it on ur wrist?! sort of like power rangers... LOL :P)

"Honto?!" Mikan exlaimed?!

"Yup, I've already entered my information in for you. You can give me a call any time you need."

"Wow, why didn't we get these before?!" Mikan asks

"Well you didn't have a need for it before. In the first semester everyone is here at school so there is no need for it. But now in the second semester you'll be going off to different places and so you'll need one to stay in contact with me and with people you meet along the way. It's important to keep in contact with people you meet on your journey as you can help each other with your trainings later on." Narumi replied, "Ok, let me explain to you how this works. If you press this top button here you'll be able to talk to other party members. To make party you just have to enter each others communicator number in here. So when you're in a group and you get separated you can still talk to each other. Next this button below is to talk to your guild. When you join a guild you can talk to your guildmates at any time by pressing this button. When you join a guild, they'll program your communicator so that the guild's information is in there, there's no need to enter in each person's information one by one. Ah yes, if you want to call someone privately, just use these arrow buttons at the front and look for the person's name if you have their information stored it in your communicator. Let me show you." Narumi explained while he accessed the contact list and clicked on his own name. "See, when you pick the person's name, you hold onto the bottom button to talk and the other person will hear you. Testing Testing," Narumi spoke into Mikan's communicator while his voice can be heard from his own.

"Do I need to have the person in my contact list to call them like that?" Mikan asks

"No you don't. If you have their number you can just enter it in and call. Oh last but not least, you probably want to turn off your communicator when you don't want to be reach, for example when you're sleeping. You might get disturbed if you don't shut it off at night." Narumi warned as he handed the communicator to her.

"Arigato Narumi-Sensei!" Mikan replied as she happily put her communicator on.

"Now, for your first assignment, I want you to go to Payon and help the people around Payon Caves. The assignment last a week long so you have plenty of time to try different roles. By the time the assignment is done you should have done the following: help those sitting outside the caves, exterminate zombies and support others in battle. Feel free to party up with other adventurers and focus on supporting them instead of running into the cave and supporting everyone you see. The purpose of this exercise is to improve on your skills and to learn how to support in combat. Remember don't wander too far into the caves as it gets very dangerous and you're not ready to go there yet." Narumi Sensei reminded her as he handed her the assignment sheet.

"Oh yes, here use this money for warps to get to Payon and here's some blue gems." Narumi sensei said as he handed her the items.

"Since your assignment last a week, I suggest you memo a point around the Payon Caves so you can warp there in the morning instead of taking the Karfa warp. Oh a note about memoing. There has been an upgrade on the communication devices. You can now use your communication device to record the longitude and latitude of the location for you to warp to. So you access the menu on your communicator and pick Memo points to store or access the co-ordinates of places you memo."

"Thank you Sensei" Mikan said as she took the items.

"Ok, now off you go! I have to go see my next student. Tah Tah" Narumi said as he spun around and left.

Mikan was so excited about her assignment she quickly ran to her room to prepare for it.

"Hum...lets see, what do I need?" She said to herself as she walks around her room in circles thinking.

"AH, that's right, Serina sensei gave us a suggest list of items to bring with us when ever we go on adventures. Now where did I put that list." Mikan said as she rummage through her notes.

"Ah Ha, I found it. Now lets see what it saids"

_Basic List_

_healing items such as red pots  
spirit recovering items such as grapes, grape juice, blue pots  
status recovering items such as green herbs, green pots  
emergency items such as fly wings, butterfly wings  
Don't forget proper equipment for the locations you'll be going to.  
For assignments, you can borrow equipment from the school. Once you graduate you'll be expected to buy and/or hunt for your own equipment._

(A/N :P I'm being really nice here to lend equip etc. If you played the game you'll know how hard it is to get your hands on good equipment and how long it'll take to get good equipment. I'm not too sure how I'll make the dropping of equipment/cards work..I don't think I'll have a logical explaination for that when it comes. )

"Oh yeah! I can go borrow equipment since i'm still a student here. I think that was in the West wing of the Academy. I better get going then." Mikan said as she rushed off to get her equipment.

_At the supply room_

"Hi, I'm here to get equipment and supplies for my assignment." Mikan said to the clerk.

"May I have your assignment sheet please." He asks

Mikan hands him the sheets and eagerly waits.

"Ah This is your first assignment and it's at Payon Caves, I'll be right back." He said and went off to get equipment for her.

He comes back with 2 packages.

"Here you are, this package here is supplies for you. You'll find some red pots, grape juice, green herbs, fly wings and butterfly wings. As you get more experienced the supplies will differ. And for your equipment this is what we call the acolyte set. The Acolyte set consist of a headgear, armour, a shield, a weapon and an accessory that has been blessed with the essences of various monsters. When these different pieces of equipment are used together, the essences work with each other to increase your defence and offence against demon and undead monsters. Of course you can use any of these pieces on their own, but it will not receive the added bonus when they are being used together. This will come in handy against the monsters in Payon Caves." He explained while handing Mikan the packages.

"Arigato" Mikan said happily

"Remember to return everything by next week Monday as your assignment ends on Friday. You have to return all equipment at the latest 3 days after your assignment ends. Ok, Good luck and have fun!" The clerk said

"I will" Mikan replied as she skipped to her room.

_Hum..._Mikan thought to herself as she examined her equipment.

_Lets see what we have here. Interesting, they have labelled the equipment so I will know what they are enchanted with. Biretta of wisdom (rideword), Blessed Saint's Robe (Geographer), Rejuvenating Buckler (Enchanted Peach Tree), Survivor's Rod of the soul (Fur Seal) and Clip of Chance (Cookie). I should put them on. (I have listed the equipment here in the order that was stated above: __headgear, armour, a shield, a weapon and an accessory)_

Mikan thought as she started to put on her equipment.

_Oh yeah, I better put the supplies in my poach before i forget them.  
Lets see here, Red Pots can help heal wounds, fly wings in cause i'm in immediate danger, Butterfly Wings to get home quickly, grape juice to replenish spiritual energy when I get tired and green herbs to cure poison since Zombies can be poisonous. Ah yes, the blue gems that Narumi-sensei gave me. I better not forget that. Great, I'm all set._

_Time to go to the Karfa to get a warp to Payon. _Mikan said to herself as she casted a spell to increase her agility and ran to the Karfa.

_At the Karfa Lady_

"Good Morning. How can I help you today?" The Karfa lady asked.

"I would like a warp to Payon please." Mikan replied.

"Alright, that will be 1200zeny." (A/N Zeny is the currency in game )

"Here you go," said Mikan as she gave the Karfa lady the money.

"Thank you for using Karfa Services" the lady said as she casted a warp for Mikan to go into.

Mikan steps into the warp and moments later finds herself in the town of Payon.

"Kami-Sama, I don't know where the Payon Caves is located." Mikan said panickly.

"Wait! I'll just ask someone." Mikan exclaimed as she went to the town guide for help.

"Hi, can you please tell me where the Payon Caves are?" Mikan asked.

"The Payon Caves is located North of the town. Go to the North East corner of the town and exit through that gate. Continue on that path and stay to the left and you'll eventually reach the cave." The Guide replied.

"Arigato gozai-mas." Mikan replied and sped off towards the cave.

_Outside the Caves_

Mikan helped heal injured adventurers resting outside the caves. She also cast spells on the adventurers that were going into the cave to give them additional strength and to increase their agility.

There were so many people to help that Mikan tired out quickly.

As she was resting to regain her spiritual energy someone came stumbling out of the caves.

Mikan noticed that the person was really hurt and rushed to his aid.

She helped the blond hair archer move to the side of the entrance before letting him sit down. His face was pale and his eyes were shut in pain as he was badly hurt.

Immediately, she cast several heals on him to help stop the bleeding.  
Once the most of the wounds have healed she started to examine him to see if there were any other major injuries that she wasn't able to heal.  
She noticed that the wound on his left arm was purple in color and has not healed by her healing spells.

"Oh no! You're wound here has poison in it." Mikan exclaimed panicky as she searched her poach for the green herbs.

"AH HA! Here it is." She announced as she pulled out a herb.

"I'll just crush some of this up and apply some to the wound. Here eat the rest." Mikan said as she handed the rest of the green herb to the boy.

The boy took the herb and quietly munched on it.

The purple color around the wound subsided as the green herb Mikan applied took effect.

Mikan sighed in relief as the purple went away.

"That was scary. It was the first time I've helped someone that was poisoned." Mikan said proudly as she looked at the boy again to see how he's doing.

Color has now returned to his face and his eyes are opened to reveal baby blue orbs. Any other girl would have blushed at his cuteness but not Mikan. She's a little too dense about these things.

"Hi, my name is Mikan Sakura! What's yours?" Mikan introduced herself.

The boy was initially shocked as Mikan was not acting like all the other girls around him. He quickly got over his shock and replied, "Thanks for helping, Sakura-San. I'm Ruka Nogi."

"Pleased to meet you, you can call me Mikan! No need for formalities." Mikan replied smiling brightly.

Ruka blushes at the sight of Mikan smiling at him, _She's cute_, Ruka thought as he replied, "Hai, then you can call me Ruka."

"YAY, I made a new friend" Mikan cheered happily.

Ruka chuckles at her actions.

"So what happen to you? Why were you so badly hurt?" Mikan asked

"Ah, I was training inside Payon caves. I wasn't keeping an eye on my arrow supply and before I knew it I ran out of arrows. When I realized that I was out, I tried to get out of the cave so I can resupply myself. Without any arrows I can't protect myself properly so I got hurt a lot on my way out." Ruka explained.

"A, so desu ka."

"What about you? What are you doing here?" Ruka asked.

"I was given an assignment to help people here! This is my first assignment, I'm so excited." Mikan continued on to explain her assignment to Ruka.

"So, you're allowed to party with other adventurers here." Ruka commented as he started thinking.

"Yup! I've never trained with anyone else in the field besides Hotaru before. And that was back in our novice days."

"Well then, would you like to train with me? I'm in a similar position as you. My assignment is to train in Payon Caves to get experience training in the field. I'm allowed to party with other people but those girls over there are quite annoying so I went off on my own." He said as he pointed to a bunch of female archers who were staring at him with dreamy eyes.

"I would love to train with you! I hope you don't mind that I'm new at support people in battle. I've only helped people outside of battle before." Mikan replied.

"I'm sure you'll be fine." Ruka said giving her a reassuring smile.

"YAY, lets do this!" Mikan cheered.

* * *

YAY done :P

I hope i didn't rush that too much

But I really wanted to get Ruka in :P

A, so desu ka oh I see

Yup yup Ruka is an archer

guess what his second class will be :P

hope u liked it

until next time :)


	10. 1st Time in Caves

Hey guys, sorry for the delay

Here's this week's chapter

* * *

_Inside the Caves_

"It's scary in here," Mikan commented as she grabbed onto Ruka's arm.

Ruka blushed at her touch but hid it with his bangs.

"I guess you've never been inside before."

"Nope, I was just helping people outside until you invited me to come in here with you."

"It's not that bad, you know, lots of places that you go to as an adventurer will be similar to this."

"Oh no," Mikan exclaimed in fright.

"Don't worry, you'll do fine. If you're ever really scared of the dark you can cast that spell of yours that creates a light of ball."

"But I was told that was used to reveal hidden people or monsters."

"True, but I've seen other acolytes use it when it gets really dark since its bright enough to light the way."

"That's a good idea," Mikan commented and then started muttering a spell

"Ruwach," she said and then ball of white fire started to circle around her.

"YAY, it's brighter now." Mikan said joyfully.

"See, there's no need to be scared" Ruka replied smiling at her.

"Thanks Ruka, I don't know what I would have done without you. If I went in here all by myself I would have probably been too scared to do anything" Mikan said with a sigh.

"Don't worry, when you get use to this whole adventure business, you won't be scared of anything anymore," Ruka replied with a warm smile.

Mikan smiled back and said "Well, lets start exploring."

Ruka nodded and they headed further into the cave.

_After a while_

Mikan hears shuffle steps and moans behind her. She turns around and screams.

Ruka looks around and saw why she screamed.

He took arrows out of his quiver and started to shoot at the zombie that was approaching them.

"Mikan, quick bless me and increase my agility." Ruka commanded.



Mikan quickly snapped out of her frighten state and casted the spells on Ruka as he had asked.

Ruka quickly shoots the zombie and kills it before it could reach them.

"Mikan, are you ok?" He asks

"Yeah, it just scared me that's all." Mikan replied, "I mean, I've seen the pictures of the monsters in books, but seeing them in real life is much more scarier. I'm sorry for being like this."

"It's ok, it's different then the books I guess. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it." Ruka said trying to comfort Mikan.

Mikan smiles at Ruka thinking, _he's really nice to put up with me. I'll work hard not to let him down._

"Thanks a lot Ruka, I'll try my best."

_After a day of battling in the caves_

"I'm beat." Ruka said as he plopped onto the ground.

"Yeah I'm tired too" Mikan said as she sat down beside him taking out a grape juice to drink.

"Would you like one?" Mikan offered.

"A red potion will do fine for me. You should save your grape juice for yourself as you need it to help you gain back spiritual energy."

As they were resting they heard the oh so familiar footsteps heading towards them.

"Damn, where do they keep on coming from?" Ruka cursed as he reached for his arrows only to discover there's no more left.

"Crap, I'm out of arrows." Ruka exclaimed.

Mikan gets up. "Don't worry, let me take care of this."

"Are you sure?" Ruka asks.

"Yes, I'm ready." Mikan replies as she casted support spells on herself.

She moves towards the Zombie and starts casting heals on the Zombie. The zombie groans in pain as he got hit by the heal spell. She keeps on walking away from the zombie and healing it at the same time until it falls down dead.

"That was great Mikan-Chan, you improved a lot in one day." Ruka commented.

"Thanks Ruka-kun, I couldn't have done it without you. If you haven't been so patient with me I wouldn't have made such progress today. The caves are so scary I wouldn't have gone very far by myself." Mikan 

said with a shudder thinking of the first time she saw the zombie.

Ruka laughs, "I think I'm done for the day, do you have warp to Payon town? That way we don't have to walk out of here. I don't want to make you do all the battle by yourself."

"Oh, I memoed just outside the caves since I have to come back this week." Mikan places her hands together and starts chanting.  
"Warp portal." she casted in front of them. A glowing circle glows in front of them.  
Mikan waits for Ruka to walk in to the warp first before entering herself.

The warp quickly closes after she enters.

_Outside Payon Caves_

_  
_"Thanks for the party," Ruka said to Mikan.

"Thanks for putting up with me" Mikan replied gratefully.

"Since you're coming back tomorrow, want to party again?" Ruka asks.

"I would love to. I'll be here helping people until you come."

"Sounds great, I should be heading back to school. I'll see you tomorrow." Ruka said as he started walking towards town.

Mikan casts the agility up speed on him and then opens up a warp to return home to the Sanctuary(the Acolyte school...I'll be calling it that from now on cause that should be it's name.. :P).

* * *

Sorry it's so short.

I actually have double the length written...but...haven't had time to proofread it yet.

It'll come up as soon as I finish fixing it up

ah Payon Caves...how long has it been since i lvled there...lol


	11. Caves part 2

Thanks for the reviews.

I greatly appreciate it.

I'm glad you like this fanfic

It lets me know that I should continue writing it.

Help me decide. Should I have Misaki and Tsubasa in the next ch? Or should I have a glimpse of Natsume? :)

Vote now!!

* * *

_Next Day_

It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and lots of adventurers can be seen gathering in front of the Payon caves. Adventurers of all different classes and experience can be seen getting ready to head into the caves.  
The place was buzzing with activities. Some younger adventurers were asking for advice from more experience adventurers of their class. Parties were forming and preparing to enter into the caves. Some priests even offer to help support the young adventurers inside the caves to help them gain experience. (A/N:I loved the priest that did that...it was so nice to get buffs and heals when i went to level my theif :P good old days...lol)

With everything going on, we can find our little Brunette in a corner casting support spells on adventurers that were entering into the caves.

A priest patted her on the head as he entered into the caves with his party full of second class. They were heading into the lower levels of the caves which was much more dangerous then the first.

"Boo" a voice boomed from behind Mikan.

Mikan let out a loud shierk and jumped from her spot.

She turned around as she heard laughing behind her to find Ruka holding his tummy because he was laughing so hard.

"You scared me!" Mikan scolded him.

"Sorry I couldn't resist," Ruka replied as his laughter died down.

"When did you get here?" Mikan asked.

"Just now. Are you ready to get started?" Ruka asks.

"Yup, I'm ready." Mikan replied with a smile.

"Great, lets go." Ruka said as he walked into the caves, "before those fangirls mob me," he muttered the last part to himself feeling the stares of the fangirls on his back as he went into the Caves.

As the week goes by, Ruka and Mikan get closer as they are training together.  
If you were to met them now, you would have thought they have been friends for a very long time.  
The fangirls were jealous of Mikan because she was always partying with Ruka and they can't get near them.



"Hey Mikan, today is the last day of your assignment right?" Ruka asks (A/N Yes...i skipped days :P...more fighting/training will come later...i will not dwell on lvl 1 payon caves :P lol)

"Yup."

"Lets exchange communicator information so we can stay in touch." Ruka suggested shyly.

"Ok!" Mikan replies cheerfully, "But I forgot how to find my own information."

"Ah here, I'll show you. Press the menu button here, go to settings and my information." (heehee i'm making this like a cell phone in a way i guess)

"Thanks Ruka."

"Here let me add you too" Mikan saids as she enters his information.

"Lets party again later." Mikan suggested.

"Yeah, I'll have free training time coming up some time. I'll let you know when it is." Ruka said.

_I wish I knew Hotaru's information so I can call her to talk to her and train with her. _Mikan thought.

"Mikan, you ok?" Ruka asks snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah! I'm great. Why do you ask."

"You went silent all of a sudden when I mentioined free trianing time."

"Oh, I was just thinking of Hotaru." Mikan said sadly.

"Who's Hotaru?" Ruka asks curously. He doesn't know what sparked his curiousity but he wanted to know who this Hotaru was.

"She's my best friend since we were kids!" Mikan replied. "I miss her a lot."

"Oh," Ruka replied feeling a bit releaved without knowing why. "You know, I'm in a similar situation. I haven't seen my best friend since I left the novice school."

"Do you miss him?"

"Yeah, but I know I'll see him again. I'm sure you will see Hotaru again too."



"Yeah my other friends tell me that too. I hope I get to see her soon."

"Don't worry you will." Ruka replied with a reassuring smile.

"I got to go now, can I get a warp out of here please?"

"Sure!" Mikan replies and opens a warp.

"I'll talk with you later." Ruka saids before stepping into the warp.

"I guess I should go back too." Mikan said to herself before opening a warp and stepping in.

* * *

Please review :)

I'll update ASAP when you guys let me know who you want to see in the next ch


	12. Morroc

YAY the longest update to date :P

Oh this story will take a while, there's still many many people to introduce.

I have fallen a bit behind in updating.

I originally wanted to update once a week, but with dragonboat season it's very hard for me to do.

Thanks for the reviews.

So this ch. we'll have some Natsume appearance...some sort of appearance :P

We'll do a Misaki and Tsubasa day next. It'll be fun.

EDIT

CHANGED THE CARD THING IN HERE TOO

* * *

_Some days later_

It was day off for our little brunette today and she's busy sleeping the day away.

"Hey Mikan, are you there?" A voice could be heard on her communicator as she had forgotten to turn it off.

Mikan stirred a little in her sleep as she heard her name.

"Hey Mikan, it's me Ruka."

"Wha??" she murmured unintelligently, "5 more minutes please."

"Mikan? It's me, Ruka, remember me?" Ruka repeated louder this time.

"Huh? Wha?" Mikan mumbled as she slowly woke up, "Ruka?" she repeated groggily.

"WHAT'S RUKA DOING IN MY ROOM." Mikan exclaimed panicky as she finally realized she heard a male voice in her room.

She looks around frantically but doesn't find anyone in her room.  
Then she spots her communicator on her desk and it hits her.

"Oh, I must have left my communicator on. Opps, better call Ruka back." Mikan said to herself as she went over to her desk to pick up her communicator.

"Hey Ruka, did you call me?" Mikan asks.

"Oh hey Mikan. Yeah I was trying to see if you're free today but I didn't get a response." Ruka replied.

"Oh, heehee, I was sleeping when I heard your voice. I just got up."

"Ah, sorry, didn't mean to wake you up."

"Oh no, it's ok. I should get up anyways. So what's up Ruka?"

"Well I have today off to do whatever I wanted so I was wondering if you would want to go training with me."

"That would be fun! I can go with you since I have a day off too! So where do you want to go?"

"I was thinking that we can train in the desert between Prontera and Morroc, than maybe visit my home town afterwards."

"Oh? I didn't know lived in Prontera too!"

"haha, no, my hometown is Morroc. I only live in Payon because of school. My family is in Morroc."

"I understand now. Can you give me some time to get ready?"

"Yeah sure, I'll meet you at the South Prontera gate in half an hour. Is that enough time?"

"Yup, I'll see you then!" Mikan replies as she places her communicator back onto her desk and proceeds to get ready for today's event.

_Half an hour later_

"Hi Ruka, were you waiting for long?" Mikan ask as she walked towards Ruka.

"Oh no, I got here earlier to check out the shops. I can see why people say Prontera is the best for shopping."

Mikan giggles, "Yeah, we have a lot of shops. It seems like merchants like to gather here to sell their goods since we're in the middle of the continent and lots of people pass by travelling by foot or by warps."

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"Yeah, I got myself new tights that can be enchanted. The pair I have right now cannot be enchanted so I got myself this new pair. Equipment that has the ability to combine with a monster's essence is so much more expensive. Oh well, now all I have to do is get a Pupa's essence from hunting or I'll have to buy it off someone."

"It's interesting how some monsters leave their essence behind when they die."

"Yeah, I'm glad someone found out how to use it and combine it with equipment. Enchanted equipment makes such a big difference." Ruka replies. "Anyways, let's start heading out, Morroc is a long walk and I want to get in training time before it gets too late."

"All right! Lets go." Mikan said excited as she went through the gates.

_Outside Prontera Gates_

"You know, this is where I use to level with Hotaru when were novices."

"Ah, yeah the monsters closer to town are usually weaker."

"Yeah, some of them are so cute too! I felt bad for fighting them sometimes." Mikan said sadly.



"It's ok. Wild monsters are dangerous. But there are taming items you can use to try to tame one for a pet."

"I would like a pet but I don't think I'm responsible enough for one."

"Well," Ruka said thoughtfully, "I actually got a taming pet item when I was in the market as well. I wanted to try capturing a pet! If I get one you can play with it."

"Oh wow, what pet capture did you get?"

"I got a rainbow carrot, it's suppose to attract lunatics."

"Oh the fluffy white bunny?"

"Yeah, I've always liked rabbits so I thought it would be a good pet to have."

"Let's go try to capture one!" Mikan said excitedly and pulled Ruka around the forest looking for a lunatic.

"Ah here's one!" Mikan exclaimed as she found a lunatic sitting under a bush resting. "So what do we do now?"

"Oh the merchant told me that I have to get its attention first, then try to fed it. Some monsters are not tamable. But some are." Ruka replied as he poked the lunatic.

The lunatic started to attack Ruka but he stayed calm and held out the Rainbow Carrot to it.

The lunatic eventually stopped attacking Ruka and stared at the carrot. Reluctant to take a bit at first it just stared at it. It gave up resisting to eat the carrot and took a small bite out of it. Soon after, it devoured the entire carrot and snuggle against Ruka's hand.

"I think you did it. YAY" Mikan cheers.

"Would you like to pet it?" Ruka asks.

"Can I?"

"Sure, I don't think it'll mind." Ruka said as Mikan pet the lunatic.

"Do you have food to eat it?" Mikan asks

"Yup, I got some carrot juice at the merchant who sold me the pet tame. He said lunatics drink carrot 

juice as it's food." Ruka replies.

"Ah I see. I guess we can start heading towards Morroc now that we're ready." Mikan said.

"Yeah, lets go" Ruka said as he started walking South West of Prontera into the desert with the lunatic trailing behind him.  
_  
In the Morroc Desert_

"It's so hot," Mikan said while she tried to fan herself with her hand.

"Yeah it is, you're lucky you have a hat so you don't get heat stroke! I only have this apple on my head." Ruka replies.

"Now that you mention it, why do you have an apple on your head?" Mikan asks.

"Oh, this headgear is called Apple of Archer. It's a good headgear for the archer class because it helps train our balance and increase our dexterity," Ruka explains and continues to walk.

"Oh I see, that's cool." Mikan replies while carelessly around trying to look for shade.

_Squeak_, the sound came from under Mikan's foot.

"Huh?" Mikan said as she looks around for what made the sound.

She looks down on the ground behind her to find what looks like an egg cooked sunny side up on the ground with her footprint on it.

Slowly it starts to move towards Mikan and pulls a frying pan out trying to swing it at her.

_What the_ Mikan thought as she stared at the strange looking egg coming at her with a frying pan.

_OMG it's trying to hit me! _She thought before she started to run for her life.

"RUKAAAAAAA HELP, there's an egg trying to hit me with a frying pan!" Mikan screamed as she continued to run.

Questions marked popped up above Ruka's head at what he heard and then he looked at Mikan to find the egg chasing after her.

Without wasting anymore time, he starts shooting at the egg with his bow and arrow.



Soon the egg dropped its pan and dissolved into the ground.

"I think that was a Magnolia." Ruka said as he walked towards Mikan.

"That was weird, I never thought I would get chased by an egg."

Ruka laughed, "Hey, you know, that might be a good way for us to gain experience!"

"What?! Me getting chased by an egg?"

"Well yes and no. If you can hit a monster, any monster, and run around with it while I kill it, we can train without really getting hurt!"

"Oh, I see what you mean. We can try it. I'm pretty good at track so I can run for a bit. But let's try to find more palm trees and run in the shade."

Ruka laughs and agrees.

_Many hours later  
_  
"I think it's about time we head to town." Ruka stated after he saw the time on his communicator.

"I don't need a watch to tell me that I'm tired." Mikan replied, "All that running is very tiring."

"Sorry for making you do all that running. But at least it was good experience."

"I had fun today. Thanks for inviting me. Now let's head to your home town. I can't wait to see what it's like; I've never been there before."

"Did you want to rest first? It's still about an hour walk."

_Grumble Grumble  
_  
Mikan blushes because of the noise her tummy made.

Ruka chuckles, "I guess you're hungry after all that running." He rummages through his bag and pulls out an apple. "Here have this apple while we head to town. It should help until we get there."

Mikan took the apple, thanked Ruka and ate it happily.

_On the away to town_



"Ruka, isn't it strange how we haven't seen any monsters for a while?" Mikan asks.

"Yeah, it is sort of strange. The last Magnolia we saw was about 20 mins ago. It's too quiet here."

"I have a bad feeling about this" Mikan said with a shiver.

"Let's walk faster," Ruka suggested. So the pair picked up their pace and started to walk faster hoping to shake off this uneasy feeling they have.

_aaawwwwhoooooooooo (A/N I can't type sound effects..i'm so sorry…that was the best I could do /swt)  
_They heard a howl in a distance behind them.

"I know I thought it was weird that it was so quiet, but I don't like the sound of that." Mikan said as she tried to look for what made that sound.

"Let's not stay here to find out what that was." Ruka urged Mikan to continue walking.

"Alright," Mikan replied and recast the increase agility spell on both of them so they can run faster.

A desert wolf jumps out in front of them and growls causing them to come to a sudden halt.

Ruka reaches for his arrows and takes aim at the wolf while Mikan casts more suppose spells on both of them.

Ruka fires the arrows but the wolf dodges it just in time. He curses and reloads the bow while the wolf gives off a loud howl.

Just as Ruka fired his arrow, other howls were heard in response and more wolves slowly appeared and surrounded them.

Two of the wolves went to the one that first appeared to check its wound and then growled at them.

"Crap this isn't good," Ruka cursed.

"I'm scared Ruka," Mikan said as she grabbed onto Ruka's arm. Normally he would have blushed at her touch but right now he was too worried about the wolves to be aware of their physical closeness.

"I'll try to take down some wolves in front of us and we'll make a run for it. Have your mace ready in case any of them gets too close." Ruka commanded.

Mikan grabs her mace with her right hand and holds on tightly to her shield in the left.  


Ruka uses his skill, double strafe, to fire 2 arrows into the wolf in front of them.

As if on cue, the rest of the wolves started their assault.

Ruka continued to fire arrows while Mikan tries to fend off a wolf that came up to her.

Just as things were looking really grim, spikes shot up from the ground impaling several of the wolves killing them instantly.

Then a figure appeared and continued to fight off the wolves along with Ruka.

Mikan turns to provide support to the two fighters when a wolf makes a move and pounces on her.

"Mikan watch out behind you!" Ruka shouted to warn her.

Mikan turns around and holds up her shield in time to block the wolf's bite but ends up on the ground with it on top of her.

Once on the ground, the wolf tries to bite her once again but the stranger knocks the wolf off of her and they ended up on the ground.

The wolf snapped with its jaws at the stranger. He blocked it with his bare arm and stabbed it with his other hand.

Mikan got off the ground and saw what happened. She quickly casted a heal for the stranger and focus her attention on Ruka once again.

Once all the fighting was over, Ruka came to check on Mikan.

"Are you ok? I'm sorry I wasn't able to stop that wolf from jumping on you."

"It's ok, he saved me." Mikan replied and pointed to the stranger.

"Oh yeah, he was injured because he got tangled up with that wolf that was on top of me. I should go heal him and thank him.

The man was sitting on the ground trying to bandage the wound on his arm. They couldn't see his face as he was wearing a sakkat and a mask of some sort that hides his mouths and nose.

"Here, let me help you." Mikan said as she reached out to help him.

He flinches at her touch and moves his arm away.

Mikan ignores his reaction, grabs his arm and heals him even though he didn't want her help.

The stranger looks up and stares at her with his crimson eyes.



"Natsume," Ruka whispered as he came up behind Mikan to check on the stranger and saw the red color eyes.

Even though it was only a whisper, it seemed to have caught the stranger's attention as he looked up at Ruka.

"Natsume, is that really you?" Ruka asked this time a little louder.

"Huh? Natsume?" Mikan repeated the name and looked at Ruka in question. "Isn't that the name of your best friend?"

When Mikan turned her attention away from the stranger to look at Ruka, the stranger took this chance and disappeared.

"Wait!" Ruka said and diverted Mikan's attention back to where Natsume supposedly was except he was missing.

"Where did he go?' Mikan asked bewildered.

"He was dressed in the assassin uniform, he must have cloaked away." Ruka commented.

"So that was your best friend?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him since we left novice school but I don't think he would become an assassin. I mean, I know we lived in Morroc but we were never the type of people that would become assassins. Not that they're bad or anything."

"Assassins are not bad? But don't they kill people?"

"Well good assassins only take assassination jobs assigned by the official assassin guild. It's the assassin guild's job to keep a balance between good and evil. There are assassins that don't kill people, but trained to be assassin for their combat skills. Then there are the assassins that took the wrong path, who will kill for money and such. They are the ones that give assassins the bad name. But you'll find those kinds of people in every different job class there is. Just the name assassin is very intimidating and creates a bad image in most people's mind when you mention their class." Ruka said thoughtfully.

"If he was your friend, why would he run away like that." Mikan asks

"I have no idea, maybe it was just someone with the same color eyes as him." Ruka replied hopefully.

"I've never met anyone with red eyes before." Mikan commented.

"Let's hurry to town, then we'll find out for sure." Ruka said as he headed to town in a fast pace.

_In Morroc_

"Yay we're finally here!" Mikan exclaimed as she stepped through the gates into the city of Morroc.

The city itself reflects the surrounding. The buildings here are made of yellow stone almost blending with the sand of the desert. There were some palm trees every so often carefully planted by the town to provide shade for it's citizen. The Morroc palace is in the centre of the city surrounded by a man made moat. Children can be seen running through the streets playing while merchants have their stores set up south of the palace.

"Let's go to my house first, then we'll stop by Natsume's house to check up on him." Ruka said as he led the way to his house.

"I'm home!" Ruka shouted as he entered into a quaint little house in the south east corner of the town.

"Ah, Ruka, you're home! You've grown from the last time I saw you. Awww my little boy is growing up." Mrs. Nogi said as she hugged Ruka.

"Awww mom, you're embarrassing me." Ruka said while blushing.

"Well who do we have here? Are you going to introduce us?" Mrs. Nogi asks.

"Mom, this is my friend Mikan Sakura. Mikan this is my mom." Ruka introduced the two ladies.

"Hi Mrs. Nogi, nice to meet you." Mikan flashed her famous smile and shook Mrs. Nogi's hand.

"Nice to meet you too Mikan. I see that you're an acolyte. So how did you meet Ruka?" Mrs. Nogi asks mischievously. She's happy to find Ruka bringing home such a pretty girl to meet her.

"Oh, I was assigned to help people at the Payon caves and I met Ruka there!" Mikan replies.

"That's nice. So will you two be staying for dinner?"

"That would be nice mom. We're really hungry. We've been training all day."

"Why don't you two go refresh yourselves first? I need to cook extra dishes now that you're here. You should have told me earlier that you were going to visit today and I would have prepared more food!" Mrs. Nogi chided Ruka lightly.

"I think I'll go visit Natsume first to see how he's doing. I haven't seen him since we left novice school."

Mrs. Nogi looked nervously around, "Ruka, I don't know how to break this to you." She takes a deep breath and continues. "You see, several months ago, there was a big fire. Natsume's house was caught in the fire. Luckily, Natsume and Aoi survived, but the same couldn't be said about their parents. After the fire we took them in. But one day, a strange man wearing a Opera Mask came with papers showing us that he's the legal guardian of Aoi and took her away. Natsume tried to fight to keep Aoi but it didn't 

work. A bit after that, Natsume disappeared one day. I think he's still out there trying to look for Aoi." Mrs. Nogi said sadly.

Ruka was stunned at the news of his best friend's misfortune. "Then that could have been him." He muttered softly.

"You've seen Natsume?" Mrs Nogi asked.

"Maybe. I'm not sure, I couldn't see his face, all I could see were his eyes. We were attacked by a pack of Desert wolves on the way here. An assassin helped fend them off and he had red eyes. But he disappeared without telling us who he is." Ruka replied.

"It's too short of a period for him to advance to the assassin class if it is Natsume!" Mrs. Nogi exclaimed.

"Well, he has always been really smart and at the top of the class." Ruka responded.

"Well, if it is him, I hope he's doing alright and don't go astray." Mrs. Nogi said, "You two go get ready for dinner, I'll have it done in no time."

"I hope he's alright too", Ruka said softly as he slumps into the couch.

Mikan can only watch and softly pat Ruka's back trying to comfort the boy.

* * *

I know...it looks like MxR right now...don't worry...it'll be NxM :)

I hope you like this chapter

Please review!


	13. Pyramids

YAY 4000 words this time

Sorry it took so long...the longer the chapter the longer it takes.

I hope you enjoy it :)

* * *

Mikan was walking around aimlessly in the church as she had finished her errands for the day.  
She accidentally bumped into something hard because she was so deep in thought that she didn't pay attention to where she was going.

She fell to the ground with an omphf. (someone please direct me to a place where I can find sound effects for stories I beg you)

"Owiieee" she mumbles to herself.

"I'm sorry, are you alright?" He asks as he reaches to help her up.

"Ah thanks," Mikan said as she reached for the hand, "I'm ok!" she replied as she looked at the person who helped her out.

"Tsubasa-senpai! It's nice to see you again!"

"It's good to see you too," he replied as he ruffles her hair.

"Have you been good?" He asks her.

"Yup! I've been training hard!"

"That's good, so what are you doing today?"

"I'm not sure, I just finished my chores at the church. What are you doing here anyways Tsubasa-senpai?"

"I'm waiting for Misaki, she had to deliver a message from the Monestary to the church so I came with her."

"Ah you guys are always together!" Mikan pointed out.

Tsubasa blushed lightly and replied softly, "yeah, we've been friends for a long time."

"That must be nice," Mikan replied smiling.

"I don't know about that, I mean he can get quite annoying at times." A voice replied to Mikan's comment.

"Hey! That hurts you know, if I'm so annoying why are you always hanging around me?" Tsubasa shot back.  
"It's you that follows me around." Misaki pointed out, "anyways, long time no see Mikan. How are you?"  


"I'm good! I'm trying to figure out what to do for the rest of the day now that I'm done my chores."

"Why don't you come with us? We're heading to the pyramids to train. I can use an extra hand to support that big oaf."

"I'm not clumsy!"

"No but you require too much healing. I don't have the same healing power as a priest you know."

"You just suck." Tsubasa said to tease her.

"TSUBASAAAAAAA" Misaki screamed as she hit him on the head with her club.

Mikan sweat dropped at the scene before her.

"Now, do you want to come training with us? We could use your help and you'll benefit from the experience as well." Misaki asks Mikan again.

"Eh, sure. Where is the pyramid located?" Mikan asks.

"It's North West of the town of Morroc. It's very close to town, adventures go there to train and keep the monster count down. We can't let them build up an army inside the pyramid for fear of them attacking the town."

Mikan nods in agreement, "Oh, I just thought of something. Can we stop by my friend's place in Morroc to see if he's in? Maybe he would like to come with us too?"

At this point Tsubasa was coming back into consciousness. "Owwww, Misaki you hit too hard." He complained.

Misaki ignores Tsubasa and continues to talk to Mikan, "Sure, he's with the thief guild in Morroc?"

"Oh no, he's an archer. But his home is in Morroc and lately he's been going back home a lot and haven't had much of a chance to go training with me."

"Ah I see. Well then, lets get going! We'll pick him up along the way." Misaki said.

_In Morroc_

_Knock Knock_

The door opens to reveal Mrs. Nogi.  


"Hi Mrs. Nogi, is Ruka in?" Mikan asks.

"Hi Mikan, yes he is actually. He arrived late yesterday night."

"He's been coming back a lot lately." Mikan commented.

"Yeah, ever since he found out that Natsume and Aoi are missing he's been coming back a lot to search for them. I'm starting to worry about him. I shouldn't have told him about Natsume." Mrs. Nogi replied while shaking her head in disappointment with herself.

"Hum, I wanted to invite him to go to the pyramids with us today. I was hoping he'll come along with us. Do you think he'll come?"

"That's a great idea, he's still sleeping right now but you can go wake him up and drag him along! He needs to do something other than school and searching for Natsume. Please take him with you." Mrs Nogi pleaded.

"I'll try to convince him to come." Mikan said as she headed to his room.

Mikan softly knocks on the door.

"Ruka, are you awake? Can I come in?" Mikan asks then puts her ear to the door to listen for a response. She hears him mumble but can't make out the words.

"Ruka, I'm coming in!" Mikan announce before opening the door.

She walks into the room to find Ruka still sleeping on his bed hugging the lunatic. Mikan couldn't help but giggle because it looks so cute! She goes over to the window and pulls open the currents to let the light in. Ruka stirs and turns away from the light and continues to sleep.

"Wake up sleepy head," she said while nudging Ruka.

Ruka mumbles something before slowly opening his eyes.

"What time is it," he mumbles.

"It's already 11am! So wake up!" Mikan exclaimed.

"Huh? 11?" he repeated while looking for the source of the voice, "Mikan?"

"Yup! I'm here to wake you up!"  


"What's going on? Am I still dreaming?"

"No silly. I came by to invite you to come training with me today."

"Hum, I probably should do some more training but I need to look for Natsume!"

"Maybe you'll find him when you train with us. You never know where you'll find him. Last time in the desert might have been him!"

"Maybe, but I feel like I should be searching for him every chance I get."

"I think you deserve a break for a day. All you do is study at school and search for Natsume in your free time. You don't even go training with me anymore! Please come with us to the pyramids just for today." Mikan said while giving him the puppy face.

Ruka couldn't resist her cuteness and gave in, "Fine, I guess one day won't hurt. Maybe he'll be training there too."

_Outside the Pyramid_

"So you're my kohai's friend," Tsubasa said while examining Ruka.

"Yeah, my name is Ruka Nogi, nice to meet you." Ruka replied warmly.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Misaki, he's Tsubasa and that's his peco partner Fluffy."

"He seems nice. Mikan, I approve." Tsubasa turned to Mikan and give her a thumbs up while Misaki shakes her head. "So now that introductions are done, let's get going with the party!" Tsubasa said excitedly and walked into the Pyramids.

_Level 1_

The beginning of the pyramids was pretty easy as the weaker monsters stayed there. Since Mikan and Ruka are with Tsubasa and Misaki, they decided to go deeper into the dungeon as they can handle harder monsters.

"Hey ugly, can I get some buffs and a heal?" A rude novice shouted at Mikan as he walked towards them.

"Who are you calling ugly!" Mikan exclaimed.



"Youchi?," Ruka said sounding unsure of himself.

"Ruka-nichan. What are you doing here? I thought you were in Payon training." Youchi replied.

"It's a free day at school so I came here to train. What are you doing here? Isn't this still too hard for you?!" Ruka said worriedly.

"It's not too hard! Natsume-nichan was able to do this when he was a novice so I should be able to too!" Youchi exclaimed. "I'm going to be just like him when I grow up." He said proudly.

"Youchi, do you know where Natsume is?" Ruka asked with a serious face.

"I don't know, I thought I saw him the other day in town but I can't be sure. I saw someone with assassin clothes on with red eyes. I called his name and he stopped for a second before disappearing." Youchi replied.

"How can you be sure that's him! Even for Natsume that's way too fast to get to second job class! Plus I thought he was going to become a swordsman, not a thief."

"Well, I saw him head into the pyramid to take the thief's test several days after Aoi was taken away. After he came out of the pyramid with the thief's uniform, he sort of disappeared and I haven't seen him since."

"I see." Ruka said dejectedly.

Mikan pats him on the back to comfort him, "Hey, at least you found some information about him. It's a good start."

"Thanks Mikan." Ruka said while giving her a small smile.

"Now lady, give me buffs and heal." Youchi said to Mikan.

You can hear Mikan mumbling something about manners as she buffed and healed Youchi.

"Thanks ugly, bye Ruka ni-chan" Youchi said before running off into the maze again.

"What a rude kid." Misaki commented.

"Sorry about that Mikan, he's not very good with people he doesn't know."

"It's ok Ruka, now let's get going!" Mikan said while they headed deeper into the dungeon.

_Deeper into the dungeon_

As they went deeper and deeper into the dungeon, the monsters were getting more difficult to defeat.

Tsubasa took the lead and mobbed up monsters and used his Grand Cross skill to kill them.

Mikan followed as closely as she could so she can help heal Tsubasa while he mobs.

Ruka took aim at the archer skeletons that do not follow Tsubasa but hits him from a far.

Misaki is at the back of the group keeping an eye on everything and taking out any monsters that tries to sneak up on them.

This party layout worked quite well, however every so often they would have to sit and rest because Mikan's spiritual energy would drain too fast from all the healing Tsubasa needed.

Even though Tsubasa and Misaki both know the same healing spell, the constant use of spells drained all 3 of their spiritual energy.

"Hey guys, we're approaching the deepest part of the dungeon. I heard the corpse of the Old King Osiris lives here." Tsubasa stated.

"Who is King Osiris?" Mikan asked.

"Osiris was a king from long time ago. This pyramid is actually his tomb. When he died, he was mummified and placed into the pyramid. He was buried with lots of treasures and sculptures. The sculptures of people were suppose to be the servants that will serve him in the afterlife." Ruka informed her.

"Ah, then why are there so many monsters here?" Mikan asked once she digested the information Ruka told her.

"Well, there was some sort of dark force that tried to take over the world a long time ago. When that dark force spread, it affected each part of the world differently. Here in Morroc, it seemed to have awakened Osiris and brought him back to life. It also turned all the statues into monsters and the darkness attracted additional monsters to this place. The Isis were once statues that were meant to serve the King in the afterlife and the skeleton soldiers were his soldiers. It is said that when the monsters first came to life, it was because of the King's desire to protect his treasure. So all the monsters came to be and served the king in his quest to protect his treasures. But eventually the darkness that brought the king to life seemed to affect him and the monsters in other ways. Instead of just protecting the treasure, they formed an army and tried to take over Morroc. There was a big battle and the town was able to drive the monsters all back into the pyramids. They gathered many strong 

priests to create some sort of barrier around the pyramids so that they cannot come out anymore."

"Hum, if that's the case, why does the town still recruit adventurers to go into the pyramids to fight here?" Mikan asks.

"I can answer this one!" Misaki cuts in, "It's because they want to ensure that Osiris can never rebuild his army and attempt to attack the town again. It also seems like whenever a group of adventurers challenge Osiris and defeat him, the darkness is able to revive him once again after a period of time."

"The dark power is still around?!" Mikan exclaimed somewhat scared.

"Well, it never really left. I'm sure you learnt about the dark ages in your class. It was during this time all these events happened. It's just that I live in Morroc so we focused on the events that happen here. But if I remember correctly, the source of the darkness was never found. Even though it seemed to have retreated when the humans won the war in all the different places, some of the power is still left behind and can be found in places like this. Actually, Payon Caves is quite similar to the pyramids. It used to be quite a pretty palace until the darkness took over and killed everyone there."

"I think I should learn more history." Mikan commented.

"Hey don't worry so much about history. Knowledge can be gained by travelling. Just like today, you learnt something new while training to become stronger. The stronger you become the further you can travel and the more experience you can get." Tsubasa said.

Mikan smiles at Tsubasa, "I guess so. I'll train harder so I can see the world for myself!" Mikan said confidently.

Tsubasa pats her head, "That's a good girl. I'm sure you can do it. Now let's go, maybe we'll find Osiris!" Tsubasa said excitedly as he rides his Peco further into the pyramids.

_Last level of the pyramids  
_  
"Mikan, buffs please." Tsubasa asked.

Mikan mutters some spells and casts Blessing and Agility Up on Tsubasa.

"Thanks, ok guys, stay here for a bit and I'm going to ride around and check things out." He said before riding away on his peco.

Ruka shoots at a nearby Mimic while Mikan finishes casting the support spells on the rest of her party.

"He's coming back now." Misaki warned as she watched her communicator's map for Tsubasa's position.  


Just shortly after Misaki's warning, they could see Tsubasa coming towards them with a mob of Isis and mummies trailing him.

Mikan eyes opened wide as she saw the big mob.

"That's bigger than the other ones." Ruka commented as he notched his bow and began to pick off the mimics that were in the group.

"I'll help you with the healing as much as I can." Misaki said as they ready themselves to start casting spells on Tsubasa.

As soon as they were in range of spells, Tsubasa stopped and started to cast grand cross.  
As soon as he stopped, the mob of monsters caught up to him and started to attack. Tsubasa was able to ignore the hits and continue casting his spell.

Mikan and Misaki were busy healing Tsubasa so Ruka had to watch and pick off any stray monsters that came their way.

The grand cross went off and the monsters that had surrounded Tsubasa groaned in pain as the holy power bursts through the ground hitting them and eventually killing them.

Tsubasa came riding back, "There's a lot out there. I think Osiris might be wandering around somewhere. We should be careful."

"Let's walk together then, that way it's safer. I don't want you to run around alone even if you're on that peco. I know it's faster for you to ride on your peco but it's still more dangerous." Misaki suggested.

"Yeah, we'll take the same formation as in the previous level. Just keep a look out."

"That sounds good but I don't think we can handle Osiris. I heard groups of adventurers talking about fighting him before and they were all second job classes and very experience." Ruka chimed in.

"Alright, if Osiris gets too close we'll warp out." Misaki announces.

"Awwww, but I wanted to try and to fight him." Tsubasa complains.

"No complaining. Do you really want to die?" Misaki scolds him.

Mikan and Ruka sweat drops while watching the two argue.

"Eh, senpais, we have company." Mikan interrupted their fighting and points to the incoming Isis and 

Mummies.

"Lets get down to business" Tsubasa said as he moves away from the group towards the incoming monsters and starts to chant his grand cross spell.

Just moments later as the monsters were about to attack him, he finishes casting the spell and once again the holy light emits from the floor killing the monsters around him.

Once Mikan finishes healing him he walks in front of the group so all the monsters follow him instead of targeting the other members of the party.

After a while of killing monsters in this manner, they saw a big mob of Isis not too far from them. Even though it wasn't too far off, it was far enough so the monsters haven't seen them yet.

"Look at that mob!" Mikan exclaimed, "Do you think someone is in trouble!"

"I don't know, they don't look like they're attacking." Ruka commented.

"It doesn't look good. What should we do?" Misaki asks.

"I don't think we have time to figure it out, they spotted us." Tsubasa braces himself for the oncoming mob.

"Oh crap! It's Osiris in the middle." Tsubasa shouted as the mob got close enough for them to see what's clearly coming at them.

"Mikan, cast a warp now!" Misaki said and Mikan quickly started to chant.

Ruka was sniping away at the mob before it reached them to limit the amount of monsters that will come to them.

Misaki was throwing spheres full of her spiritual energy at incoming Isis killing them in one shot.

Tsubasa start tanking the mob and Osiris himself and was getting beaten up pretty badly. He was drinking white potions and pouring them on his wounds as fast as possible but the damage the mob was doing was out damaging the healing from the potions.

"WARP PORTAL" Mikan shouts as she finished casting the warp.

"Hurry, go in!" She calls out and starts working on healing Tsubasa.

"Gah, let me try this," Misaki states as she downs several blue potions and calls on all 5 of her sprit spheres and concentrates her energy into her fist. Once she had placed all her spiritual energy into her fist she runs into the mob straight at Osiris.

"Guillontin Fist!" she screams as she punches Osiris head on with the fist she had charged up.



Osiris faltered for a second and his mob of Isis and mummies attention went onto him instead of Tsubasa. Tsubasa and Misaki took this chance to run into the portal.

Mikan quickly stepped into the portal after they went in and the portal closed up behind her.

Once Osiris came back to his senses he realized that his victims have disappeared.

His eyes glowed red before he walks off with his minions in search for more blood to be spilled.

_Back in Prontera just outside the church_

"Wow that was a close call." Ruka said as he sat down on the grass.

"Yeah it was," Tsubasa agreed as he plopped down on the ground beside him. "I didn't think he can deal so much damage. Damn that hurt a lot."

"And you were the one that wanted to try killing Osiris." Misaki reminded him.

"I didn't know he was that hard." Tsubasa claims.

"But I had a good time today. Thanks for inviting me Senpais." Mikan said, "I think I should get going now. It's almost dinner time at the Academy, I should really go. See you later!" She waves bye to the group as she walks into the church.

"I guess I should head back to my school too," Ruka said.

"Hey Ruka, Mikan told us about your search for your friend. You think he's an assassin and he has red eyes?" Tsubasa asks.

"Well, meeting Youchi today confirms that Natsume did take up the thief class. He also mentioned the possibility that Natsume is already an assassin." Ruka replied.

"Hum, for someone your age to change into their second job class that fast is quite impressive. I mean, there are classes where it's easier to change into the second job class, but you still normally have to go to school for it first." Misaki commented.

"I just wanted to let you know of a rumor I heard when I was running an errand around the castle the other day. It seems like one of the dark guilds have been up to no good again. And someone reported seeing a red eye assassin lurking around the area bearing the mark of the guild they suspect to be causing the trouble." Tsubasa said.

"That can't be Natsume, he would never join a dark guild." Ruka exclaimed to defend his friend.

"Who knows if it's really him or not. Maybe he's there not in the guild on his own free will. I mean, your mom said someone took Aoi away before Natsume disappeared." Tsubasa replied.

Ruka stared at the floor thinking silently.



"Anyways, I just wanted to let you know as a warning. If he is involved in those guilds, no matter what the reasons are, you're not in a position right now to face any of them. You're still only an archer and lack lots of battle experience. My suggestion to you is to put a hold on your search for Natsume for now. Gain more battle experience and change into your second class. You need to catch up with your friend in terms of battle experience if you ever want to find him. How do you expect to go where he might be as an archer?"

"I don't know. I guess I never thought of it like that. All I wanted to do was just find him to make sure he's ok." Ruka said sadly.

"Don't worry so much about it; I'm sure you guys will meet in the future." Misaki tries to comfort Ruka.

"But Tsubasa is right, for now, just focus on gaining the experience you need so you can keep on moving forward. When you're more experience, it makes travelling to all parts of the world possible. That will expand your searching grounds."

"What you're saying does make sense. I just haven't been thinking straight lately. Thanks for taking me with you guys. Maybe we'll party again some time. I should get going now too. Bye." With that said, Ruka walks towards the Karfa lady and buys a warp to Payon.

"Sigh, young ones." Tsubasa said

Misaki smacks him on the head, "You're only 2 year older than them you know."

"Yeah, but they're still younger." Tsubasa said and stuck out his tongue at Misaki.

"You stick that tongue out at me again and I'll cut it off." Misaki threatens Tsubasa and he immediately puts it back into his mouth.

"You know, we took our time getting to our second job." Tsubasa commented.

"Yeah, you were always too lazy to train with me so it took us forever!" Misaki complained.

"I think they'll get there much faster than us."

"Yeah we can help them train and get experience." Misaki said as they walked off to their own destination.

* * *

I will be fastforwarding sometime soon

cause the other chars i want to introduce...I want to introduce them in their second class. :)

Thanks for reading.

Please leave reviews :)


	14. Graduation!

Hey Guys,

Sorry I've been lacking in motivation to write. It helps when there are reviews to let me know how I'm doing.

I have the next chapter planned around...just need to get around to writing it.

Hope you enjoy this one.

* * *

Months have passed and it was finally time for Mikan's class to graduate.

All the acolytes who have just completed their second term gathered into the hall waiting for their graduation ceremony to start.  
You can feel the excitement radiating from the young acolytes in the room. They were busy chatting with each other about their future plans. There is so much they can do. Some have chosen to stay in the church to do further studying with the teachers while others choose to gain knowledge by traveling.

Like all the other students, Mikan was busy chatting with her classmates while waiting for the the principal to speak.

"So what are you going to do?" Mikan asks.

"Well, first I'm going to go back home. Probably meet up with some of my friends back in Payon and then I'll start traveling." Aki replied.

"I'm going to go back home for a visit before coming back here to study some more." Yuki replied, "What about you?"

"I don't think hitting the books is for me. I prefer exploring the world and seeing everything for myself." Mikan replied. "Hopefully I can meet up with Hotaru and go exploring with her. Maybe I can invite Ruka as well."

"You've been training a lot with Ruka on your free days." Aki pointed out, "Is there something going on between you two?"

"What do you mean?" Mikan asks.

"Do you like him?" He asks directly.

"Of course I do! He's a really good friend."

Yuki sighs and pats Mikan on the back, "Poor Ruka, I wonder if he has noticed how dense Mikan is when it comes to things like this."

Aki laughs and says, "I meant like him more than a friend. Does your heart beat faster when you see him, you know things like that."

"I don't think so. The only time my heart beats faster is because we get ourselves into big trouble like that time with the wolves."

"You should be more careful when training." Yuki scolded her, "You might not be so lucky every time that someone just happens to come and saves you."

"Yes M'am." Mikan replied with a salute and Aki laughs at the scene in front of him.

Throughout the school year Mikan, Yuki and Aki have gotten very close. Yuki was like the big sister in the group, always looking out for the other two. Aki is the playful one, he loves to joke around and tease Mikan and Yuki. Mikan was the baby of the group, very naive and innocent and that's the way they want to keep her.

"It's hard to believe we'll be graduating and going off on our own now. We won't have classes with each other anymore. We won't be eating our meals together. We won't be living together." Mikan said sadly.

"Don't talk like that. It's not like we won't ever see each other again!" Aki responded.

"He's right you know Mi-Chan. We can always talk to each other through the communicator and we can meet up to train with each other! And we can always warp to another town to meet up with each other."

"Yeah! Who knows, we might even end up in the same guild as each other!" Aki exclaimed excitedly.

Mikan smiled at the two gratefully and was about to say something but the high priest got up to the podium and began to speak.

"Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the graduation ceremony for our graduating class. I want to congratulate all of you on your achievements to date. But remember, this is only the beginning. What we have done here is teach you and train you to be ready to go out and face the world. A world full of adventures is out there waiting for you. But remember, no matter where you go, the church will always be your home. You are always welcome here. Now, we'll have the valedictorian come up to say a few words."

_After the ceremony  
_  
Mikan was walking Yuki and Aki to the Karfa lady.

"Remember to call me or write to me once in a while!" Mikan reminds Aki.

"Don't worry! I won't forget, that was only the 20th time you've reminded me."

"I'm going to be so lonely without you two." Mikan cries.

"What are you talking about? You're always off training with that archer friend of yours." Yuki teases Mikan.

"Oh yeah, what's his name again. Hum...I think it was Ruka." Aki joined in the teasing.

"We should all go training together!" Mikan exclaimed.

Yuki laughs, "We'll see about that. Since I'm doing further training with the church I won't have as much free time as you guys. But whenever I can we should meet up."

"Ok time to say goodbye." Aki said and hugged Mikan and then Yuki.

"Take care." Aki said and then asked the Karfa lady to warp him to Payon.

"I'll see you later Mikan. Come by the church to see me any time when I'm back from Geffen." Yuki said while hugging Mikan. Then she got a warp from the Karfa lady to go home to Geffen.

"Sigh, I'm all alone again. Well I always have Ji-Chan, but it was nice to have someone that's like an older sibling to me. I think I'll go visit my secret spot before I go home today." Mikan said as she walks towards the south Prontera gate.

_In the garden  
_Mikan walks in and sits under her favorite tree.

"Hi Mr. Tree, it's been a while since I was last here. I've been so busy with school and training lately I never get a chance to come. But starting today I should have more time. Our graduation ceremony was today so that means I'm done my classes. As long as I'm not out on an adventure I can come visit more often. I hope this means that I'll get to see Hotaru some more! I'm sure she would have graduated as well. I'm going to miss Aki and Yuki though. I know I can always go visit them, but its different then living with them. I'll figure something out." Mikan mumbled the last sentence before closing her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

_Sometime later_

_Drip drip drip_

Something was dripping on Mikan and woke her up.

"Huh? Is it raining? I better go home if it's raining." Mikan said in a far away voice as she had just woken up. She wipes her face with her hand and looks at her hand to see it was covered with red liquid and not water like what she had expected. She exclaims in surprised, "EH! This isn't rain." She lifts her hand up to her nose to smell the liquid. "OMG this is blood! Mr. Tree is bleeding! Don't die Mr. Tree! I'll put a bandage on you to stop the bleeding!" Mikan said as she began to climb the tree in an effort to get to the branch that she thinks is bleeding.

Once she got up to the branch she found an assassin lying on it bleeding. "Oh, it wasn't Mr. Tree that was bleeding, it was you!"

The assassin didn't respond to Mikan's comment and stayed motionless.

"I'm going to try to help you Mr. Assassin. Just stay still and let me look at your wounds." Mikan said as she tried to get into a better position to examine the assassin's wounds. However the branch is not very big and since Mikan is very clumsy, she accidently knocked the assassin off the tree when she tried to move to where he was. Mikan grabbed his arm to try to stop him from falling off but being much lighter then the assassin she ended up falling with him to the ground. Good thing the ground was not very hard for the grass was quite long and cushioned their fall.

"Girl, are you trying to kill me or help me?" The assassin groaned as he landed on the ground with Mikan on top of him.

"Gahhhhh, gomenasai. I didn't mean to cause you to fall. I just wanted to heal you and look after your wounds for you." Mikan apologized frantically then she starts casting her healing spells to stop the bleeding and to close any surface wounds.  
Once the bleeding stopped she started to examine him to see how bad the injuries are.

"Good, it doesn't look like the injuries were so bad that my spells couldn't heal them. What did you do to get all those injuries in the first place? Even though they were not deadly, that was still a lot of injuries."

"That's none of your business little girl." He replied coldly without opening his eyes.

"Is that how you talk to someone that just helped you?" Mikan exclaimed.

"I never asked for your help." He stated then opened his eyes to find out who it was that helped him.

When Mikan saw his eyes she immediately recognized him.

"It's you!" She exclaimed and pointed at him! "You're the one that saved us from the wolves and Ruka thinks you're his friend Natsume and has been looking for you nonstop!"

He lied there silently staring at the leaves above him.

"Hey, are you really Natsume? Ruka would be very happy to know that you're ok."

"What is it to you?" he asks emotionalessly.

"Well, Ruka's my friend and I want to see him happy." Mikan replied.

"Just a friend?" He voiced questionably.

"Yup. So are you Natsume?" Mikan asked while poking him.

"If I tell you will you stop bugging me, little girl? He asks.

"I'm not a little girl! I have a name you know. It's Mikan Sakura, so use it."

"I can call you anything I like." He growled.

"Arghh, you're hopeless. If you're not going to tell me who you are then I'll just assume you're Natsume and tell Ruka that I saw you."

"Do you really think you should do that? What if I'm not Natsume, then you'll be giving Ruka false hope that you found his friend."

Mikan was silent for a second and bit her lips thinking of what she should do.

Then a voice came in over his communicator. "Kuro Neko, report to base immediately."

"Tch," he said as he stood up and was about to leave.

"What kind of name is Kuro Neko?" Mikan asks out loud.

"A code name," he replies, "Now, make sure you don't tell anyone of our meeting or else I'll have to make sure you and those people stay quiet, permanently." He pulls out his knife and threatens Mikan.

Mikan gulped, "Your secret is safe with me. I won't tell anyone."

"Good" he said before crushing his butterfly wing and disappearing in front of her.

* * *

So they meet again :P

I'll be working him into the story once in a while until he makes his official appearance :P

Next chapter we'll have one more GA character joining us :)

You'll start to see them change into second class soon as I want to introduce the rest of the gang in their second job class.

Hopefully I'll find the motivation to write faster.

Please review.

Thanks!!

PS Thanks for everyone that reviews. I read them all. I guess I should start responding to them... :) Next time I will


	15. Glast Heim

Hey guys,

Here's the next update :)

Mikan woke up early for a change. She couldn't sleep very well after the encounter with the assassin she now knows as kuro-neko.  
Since she couldn't sleep, she decides to get out of bed and get an early start today.

After she finishes getting ready and had breakfast, she heads over to Hotaru's home hoping that she's back by now.

_Knock knock  
_  
Mrs. Imai opens the door, "Good morning Mikan, are you looking for Hotaru?" she asks.

"Good morning Mrs. Imai, yes I am looking for Hotaru. Is she back yet?"

"Yes she is. Come in, she's eating breakfast in the kitchen right now." She replied while motioning Mikan to come into the house.

Mikan goes in and finds Hotaru in the kitchen.

"Good morning Hotaru! I miss you!" Mikan exclaimed as tries to hug Hotaru.

"Napalm beat" Hotaru casts her spell creating invisible balls that hits Mikan and sends her flying away from Hotaru.

"Wahhhhh, Hotaru is so mean." Mikan wails as she sits on the ground crying.

"Stop crying Mikan, crying makes you 9 times uglier." Hotaru said to her and she stopped crying.

"So what brings you here today, baka?" Hotaru asks.

"Stop calling me baka. I came here today because I missed you. I wanted to see if you wanted to go training together. It's been a long time since we've gone training together."

Hotaru thinks about Mikan's offer, "well, training with you means I can use less potions and you can cast support spells on me to make me stronger. Less potions means I spend less money, support spells means I can kill faster and get more loot. Hum, I guess that could work. I was supposed to go train with another mage today but you can tag along. "

"Oh, can I invite a friend too?" Mikan asks.

"What class is he? We're going to Glast Heim sewers to fight stings. You need to fight them in a distance because they hit very hard so not all classes will be able to come and train there efficiently."

"He's an archer."

"I guess that would work."

"Ok let me give him a call." Mikan said before looking up his information on her communicator.

"Hey Ruka, are you awake yet?" Mikan speaks into her communicator.

"Hi Mikan, I just got up. What's up?" Ruka replied.

"I wanted to ask if you wanted to come training with us today?"

"With Tsubasa and Misaki-senpai?" Ruka asks.

"Nope with my best friend Hotaru and her classmate. They're both mages and we're going to Glast Heim sewers."

"Hum, that would be interesting. But I heard Glast Heim is very dangerous."

"If you're too chicken to come you don't have to." Hotaru spoke into Mikan's communicator.

"That's not nice Hotaru." Mikan said to Hotaru while the communicator is still transmitting.

"It's true." Hotaru replied.

"I'll come. Where should we meet up?" He asks.

"Meet us in Geffen at the benches around the fountian." Hotaru replies.

"Okay, I'll see you there." Ruka replies.

_In Geffen_

"YAY I'm so happy. I finally get to go training with Hotaru." Mikan said excitedly while skipping along beside Hotaru.

"Stop being so loud. You're attracting too much attention." Hotaru chided her.

"Sorry, I'm just so excited. I haven't seen you in so long. I miss you, you know."

"Yeah yeah, I know. You've only told me 47 times this morning."

"Oh, I see Ruka." Mikan said as she spotted Ruka sitting on a bench up ahead. "Hi Ruka," she waved and shouted to get Ruka's attention.

Ruka smiled at Mikan and responded with a hi.

"Great, they're both here then." Hotaru said.

"Oh, where's your friend?" Mikan asked.

"He's the mage sitting at the other end of the bench."

"Great, let's get introductions going."

"Hey Ruka, this is my best friend Hotaru and her friend." Mikan said as she introduced them to Ruka.

"And this is my friend Ruka, we meet when I was on an assignment in Payon." Mikan told the two.

Ruka gives a polite smile and shook hands with the two of them.  
He slightly blushed when he shook hands with Hotaru. Ruka mentally scolded himself for being effected like this by Mikan's friend when he already likes Mikan. But it's really hard to blame Ruka. Hotaru is already quite eye catching with her pure black hair neatly cut at shoulder length, deep violet eyes that seem to be able to look into your soul and soft porcelain skin. Being dressed in her Mage uniform attracts even more attention then she normally gets. The mage's uniform is very revealing exposing her abdominal area and her legs as she walks. Even though she's very attractive, the icy aura she gives off keeps most of the guys at bay. Only the courageous and stupid will try and go hit on Hotaru and it never ends well for them. She's not the ice princess of the Mage Academy for nothing.

"Hi, I'm Yuu, Hotaru's classmate." Yuu introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you Yuu." Mikan replied with her trademark smile that causes a small blush to appear on Yuu's face.  
Yuu is dressed in the traditional male mage uniform which is quite the opposite to the female uniform. The huge cloak that is a part of the male uniform covers everything else he is wearing. For all we know, he may not even be wearing the rest of his uniform under that cloak because it's so well hidden. Yuu has light sandy hair and blue eyes that are hidden behind glasses.

"Yuu, did you find someone to warp us?" Hotaru asked.

"Yup, just let me call the priest to tell him that we're all here and ready to go." Yuu replied and started to message someone on his communicator.

"Ok, he's coming now to warp us." Yuu informed the group, "Have you two been to Glast Heim before?"

Both Ruka and Mikan shook their heads.

"Ah, Glast Heim is quite dangerous; it's very big with lots of different monsters. Most of the monsters are either undead or demon but that's not the same when you go underground. The undead and demons seem to rule the castle ruins while the underground sewers are full of other monsters. We'll be heading into the sewers because there's a monster there all stings that is good for range attacks. They're quite slow moving so you can attack them from a distance." Yuu explained.

"I think I've heard of the monster you are referring to from an upper classman. They're called Stings right?" Ruka asked.

"Yup, that's them. However on the same map there are gargoyles that attack us from a distance. Mikan, have you learnt Pneuma yet?" Yuu asked.

"Yes I have." She responded.

"Great, cast that on us whenever a gargoyle comes to attack us."

"Will do." She said while giving him a thumbs up.

"Hi Guys, ready to go?" A Priest came up to them and asked.

"Yeah, thanks for coming to warp us." Yuu replied.

"No problem. Be careful guys, make sure you have butterfly wings on you in case you run into something you can't handle." He reminded the group as he casted the portal to go Glast Heim. "Have fun guys. Good luck." He said as the group went into the portal.

_At Glast Heim  
_  
Mikan looks around the place.  
Glast Heim had a creepy feel to it. It was covered in this thick mist that let minimum amount of sunlight through. It was just bright enough so you can see the place. Glast Heim would have been a magnificent sight to behold in the past. The castle area is enormous and well built. The castles of the past are quite amazing. Glast Heim is not just made up of one building but multiple buildings. It's almost like a miniature town when you think about it. There is a wall surrounding the huge castle area. This wall acted as a defense mechanism back then. Today, it seems to be the only thing that keeps the monsters of Glast Heim from escaping the area. It also seems like none of the monsters outside of the walls want to step into the area.  (A/N: Much like some castles I visited in Europe, the castle really is a miniature town. So cool)

A shiver is sent down Mikan's spine as she took in her surrounding. It still is very impressive but at the same time it gives a feeling of uneasiness. Mikan noted that all that is left here is a shadow of the glorious past.

"Come on guys, we need to run through different parts of the castle before we get to the sewers. Once we enter through this door we'll be in the church Abbey, the entrance to the sewers is through the church yard. The Dark Lord is said to be found in the church yard so we have to be really careful when we go through it." Hotaru said snapping Mikan out of her thoughts.

Mikan quickly casted Bless and Agility Up on everyone and they step into the Abbey silently.

_Inside the Abbey  
_  
Yuu was leading the way once they stepped inside the Abbey. The place was bigger than expected. Good thing the church yard is only a short distance away from the entrance into the Abbey.

"Wow, this place is so big that they had a church here." Mikan said while looking around in amazement.

"Baka, stay close to the group. We can't really take on any of the monsters here properly so we need to run through this place fast." Hotaru chided Mikan's behaviour. "You still haven't changed one bit. You can't afford to be so easily distracted when exploring new places. You're not a novice anymore, you're an acolyte and you are expected to support the group."

"I know, I'm sorry. I just haven't seen you in so long that I'm overly excited today. I'm very good at supporting you know! Right Ruka?" Mikan refuted.

"Don't worry Mikan, you're good at supporting, just try to concentrate." Ruka responded while smiling at her encouragingly.

Hotaru raises an eyebrow while looking at Ruka and Mikan. Then she smirks at the sight as she suspects that Ruka has feelings for her dense friend. "This will be fun." Hotaru thought in her head as they continue to walk to the church yard.

They killed off any ghouls that approached them while walking to the church yard and ran away from the druids as they have more magic resistant making them harder to kill.  
When they were almost there at the yard, they heard very fast thumps on the ground. They look and found a mimic trying to chase after them. Ruka quickly notched an arrow and used his arrow repel skill to knock the mimic back several meters. Then Yuu quickly casted a firewall in between them and shouted "Run!"  
They made a mad dash for the church yard and slammed the door shut behind them. They can hear scratching against the door as the mimic claws the door for several moments before it decides to go away to look for new victims.  
"I hate mimics. They break through firewalls so fast and hit so hard." Yuu said as they catch their breath.  
"Yeah, on top of that it's so hard to hit them because they're so fast and agile." Ruka said nodding in agreement.  
"Stop your whining. The faster we get out of the yard the faster we'll get away from all these monsters and get to our destination." Hotaru said unemotionally.  
Once again, Mikan casted her support spells on the group and off they went to find the entrance into the Glast Heim sewers.

_Inside the sewers_  
(A/N yes...sorry I'm not about to walk through every map. It's only 2 maps away to get there but there really isn't a lot to say about the trip to get there...unless they bump into Dark Lord and i'm not that mean)

"Ok guys, remember, don't get hit by the Stings. They hit really hard and can probably knock you unconscious in 1 hit if you're not strong enough yet." Hotaru reminded the group.

They walked to the left side of the entrance and started going down that path. Slightly further down they could make out a figure of something there. Not sure if it was human or a monster they decided to approach it slowly. Once they were closer they were able to see what it was more clearly.  
"Oh my God, what is that!" Mikan exclaimed pointing to something that look like a giant arm made of mud with a glove covering it's hand at the top.

"That is a sting." Hotaru stated in a matter of fact sort of fashion.

"Oh, so that's what a sting looks like." Mikan replied.

Hotaru went closer to the sting and casted a firewall beside her and then walked back behind the firewall. So instead of the firewall being horizontal to her, it is now vertical. "Stings are stupid. They will just run head first into the firewall like that so if you cast it the right way, it'll take longer to reach us." She explained while Yuu and her started to cast fire bolt spells on the Sting.

Ruka started to shoot at it with normal arrows but found that it wasn't doing as much damage as he could be. It seems like the layer of mud stops the arrow from penetrating deeply into the monster.

Hotaru and Yuu finished casting their spells and a rain of fire came down and killed the sting as it was trapped by the firewall.

"Use fire arrows, it'll get through the mud and penetrate the monster better." Yuu told Ruka.

"Thanks," Ruka replied as he dug into his backpack to find the red blood gem to create arrows that are enchanted with the fire element.

While they were waiting for Ruka to create his arrows, something started to shoot at them. One arrow managed to hit Hotaru in the thigh and she gave a small cry of pain. Her normally calm face that shows no emotion now showed pain as her leg twitched in pain from being shot at.  
"Hotaru!" Mikan exclaimed as she looked at Hotaru.  
"Cast pneuma on us and worry about this later." Hotaru told her hastily.  
"Pneuma" she quickly casted the spell on Hotaru and the rest of the party members. The arrows aimed at them bounced off of the green mist that surrounded them.

Yuu and Ruka started their attack on the Gargoyle that was shooting at them while Mikan kept up the Pneumas.

Once the Gargoyle died Mikan rushed to Hotaru's side.  
She kneeled next to where Hotaru was sitting and started to examine her wound.

"Hotaru, I need to pull that out." Mikan told her as she pointed to the arrow.

"Hn." Hotaru grunted in pain.

"It'll hurt. Here, bite on this." Mikan handed Hotaru a leather strap to bite on.  
Once Hotaru put that into her mouth, Mikan's hand went to the arrow and she pulled it out in one swift motion.

Hotaru groaned and bit down hard on the leather.

Mikan started to cast heal spells on her wound to stop the bleeding and close the wound.

"There, good as new." Mikan said proudly looking at her handy work.

"Thanks," Hotaru replied with a small smile.

"Are you still able to continue?" Ruka asked.

"Of course I am. Who do you take me for?" Hotaru snapped at Ruka as she got up and started to walk off.

Yuu patted Ruka on his back and follow her.

Mikan gives him a sheepish smile and quickly cast some support spells and pulled him along to catch up with Hotaru and Yuu.

As time passed, they got better at killing the monsters found here. They were able to take on several monsters at once and come out victorious.  
However, it drains much more of their spiritual energy when they attack several monsters at once rather than concentrating on 1.  
Fighting here was very good experience and they were learning fast.

"I think we're doing really well here guys." Yuu said to the group.

"Yeah, this is awesome experience. We make a great team." Ruka said in agreement.

Just as they were happily talking and being proud of their effort so far, a sting pop out of nowhere and knocked Ruka off his feet.

"RUKA!!" Mikan screamed and casted a quick heal.

Hotaru quickly summon a firewall in between them and the Sting.

Mikan worked on tending to Ruka while Yuu and Hotaru took care of the Sting.

"Damn that hurt." Ruka said once he was feeling well enough to talk.

"You were really badly hurt. You were on the verge of being unconscious. That would be really dangerous since I don't have the skill resurrect yet and I won't be able to bring you back to consciousness." Mikan replied. (A/N Since this is a story, I can't very well have dead being coming back to life b/c of a skill/item, so lets just say resurrect/ygg leaf can bring a person back from near death/unconsciousness  )

"Lets head back guys. I think we're all tired and that will just put us to a disadvantage here." Hotaru suggested.

"I agree, even though you got healed by Mikan, that hit was quite fatal. We should go back and take a better look at it." Yuu said in agreement.

Mikan nods and starts casting her spell to open a warp.

Once she finishes her spell everyone went in and they were instantly warped back to Prontera.

_In Prontera_

"Thanks for the party guys, we should do it again sometime. I should be going back home now. See you guys later." Yuu said as he went to the Karfa for a warp back to Geffen.

"I'm tired. I'm going back home now. Baka don't over work yourself." Hotaru said to Mikan before walking towards her home.

"Bye Yuu, bye Ho-chan." Mikan said while waving at them.

"Now Ruka, let's take another look at you to make sure you're ok." Mikan said as she turned to Ruka.

Ruka started to blush because he was so close to Mikan.

"Ano, should we be doing this in the middle of the street?" Ruka asks while blushing.

"Opps," Mikan replies while giggling, "I guess we should get off the road so we're not in people's way."

Then Mikan drags Ruka off to a bench somewhere close to the south Prontera gates.

"Hum, it looks like the damage done has been minimized by the heals. You should be ok. But since it hit you in the head I'm a little worried about concussions. If you feel any headaches, dizziness, vomiting, nausea or have problems with vision you should see a priest right away." Mikan told Ruka once she was finished with her examination.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry, ok?" Ruka told Mikan.

"Ok, just remember to go to a priest if you don't feel very well for the next several days!" Mikan reminded him one last time.

Ruka chuckles, "I should head home now. See you later Mikan."

"Say hi to your mom for me." Mikan requested as Ruka walks off to the Karfa lady for a warp.

"I will," he responded before he disappeared right in front of her.

"Well, now that everyone is gone, I think I'll go to my garden before I head home." Mikan said to herself as she walked out the gates to her garden.

_In the garden_

Mikan sits under her favourite tree and took out a book from her knapsack.

She opens it and starts writing about the adventure she just had today.

After half an hour of writing, the sun started to set.

She looks up from her book to watch the sunset.

"Wow, we were out for a really long time today." She commented.

"Hum, it's getting dark, I better hurry up and finish writing this then go home." Mikan thought out loud.

Then she casted Ruwach to help provide better lighting so she can continue to write.

Once she casted the spell, the ball of light seemed to have hit someone and he was revealed.

"Oh my God." Mikan screamed.

"Don't pop out of no where like that. You scared me half to death." Mikan yelled at him.

"It's not like I wanted you to see me. I can't help it if you cast that spell. If I knew you were going to do that, I would have moved out of range so I wouldn't be revealed."

Mikan stared wide-eyed at him, "That was the longest sentence you ever said to me."

"Hn." He replied.

"How long were you there for?" Mikan asks.

"Long enough. I was having a nice rest before you came in." He replied.

"You know, I don't think anyone else really knows about this place. This is my secret spot I come to so I can relax. I like it here, it's very pretty and peaceful. Don't you think so?"

"Hn." He replied not looking at her.

"Well, since you seem to come here often as well, I guess this can be our secret spot. So you don't have to hide from me." Mikan said smiling at him.

He stared at Mikan to find her smiling at him with that innocent smile of hers. "I don't need your company." He said coldly.

"Humf, so rude. Well I should get going now. Bye Neko-Chan." Mikan said as she left the garden to go back into Prontera.

"What a stupid girl." The assassin said as he once again cloaked and blended into the shadows.

Thanks for the reviews

XxblackwingsxX, Ja-chan94, HyuugaYingLang

I need your opinion guys.

Would you rather I update more often with shorter chapters or less often with long chapters like this one?

This one is about 3.6k words...i think around 7-8 pages

Please review :) I need to know how i'm doing

thanks alot guys


	16. Little Secrets

Hi Hi,

I guess I was in the writing mood and I was able to finish this chapter quicker then I expected. :)

I hope you enjoy it. I'm trying to speed things up a bit.

I have ideas for the next one already. So hopefully it won't take too long.

Enjoy

* * *

For the next several months, Mikan has been busy everyday.

When Mikan is not training she'll go visit Yuki and her teachers at the church.

It seems like Narumi is still as unusual as ever wearing very girly headgear and recently dyed his clothes pink!  
It's quite hard to miss him when you step into the church. A pink girly male priest prancing around the church sure attracts a lot of attention.  
Still, no matter how weird he looks. Narumi is a great resource of information and very support of Mikan.

When Mikan is training, she never trains alone anymore. She's always able to find Hotaru, Yuu or Ruka to train with and she's very grateful for that. It's possible for her to train by fighting undead monsters by herself, but she wants to get better at supporting so she prefers to go training with others and just play the support role.  
Hotaru noticed something different about Mikan and couldn't really pinpoint what was the cause for her to change.  
Mikan seems to be the same as always if you don't know her very well.  
But Hotaru is able to see that something was different in her actions.  
Yes she's still loud and hyper, but there's something special in her eyes now that becomes very apparent when they're in training mode.  
At first Hotaru dismissed it because she just thought that Mikan was just in battle mode and it's good for her to be more focus and serious while training. But lately, she notice that Mikan seems more determined than ever in everything they do.  
She has no idea what triggered her friend to be so serious underneath her playful facade.  
Although the change is good, she can't help but feel that Mikan is hiding something from her. That is what triggered her concern in the first place. Mikan never hides anything from her. Last time when Hotaru commented on her change in attitude, she saw something flash in Mikan's eyes before brushing it off lightly with denial. She claimed she's the same as ever and maybe it's because she's in battle mode that she seems different. From that moment on, Hotaru knew she was hiding something from her for sure and have tried to figure out what it is that she was hiding but have failed to do so. Failing to figure out what's wrong, all she can do is try to stay by Mikan's side as much as possible to keep an eye on her and look out for anything suspicious.

The events caused by the dark guilds doesn't provide Hotaru any comfort. Lately, the dark guilds seem to be very active, their numbers seemed to have increased making them more powerful than before. Worst case scenario would be that Mikan is hiding something from her because of them.  
Word out on the street is that some of the new recruits are forced into the guild through different means such as blackmail.  
The Prontera knights have been working hard to find out just what sort of things they are using to blackmail all these people to do their dirty work for them. Rewards are being offered for any leads people can offer. Of course not many people are willing to provide information as they fear for their own lives. Most of the people who are not afraid of those guilds are already assisting the knights in different ways. Because of all the foul activities lately, Mikan and her friends have been cutting their training short and going home before sunset.

_At this moment in Mikan's Secret Garden  
_  
"You really love this place don't you." Hotaru commented.

"Yeah, I was too busy to look after it when I was at the academy, so I'm sort of making up for it now." Mikan said sheepishly.

"You've been doing a good job fixing it up. Don't tire yourself out too much. We've been training hard lately." Hotaru said.

"True, but since we're coming home earlier these days, I'm not as tired so I have enough energy to come and do some gardening."

"Silly, you know you don't have to do gardening every day." Hotaru reminded her.

"That's true too, but even if I'm not working on the garden, it's still nice to come here. It's relaxing."

"Well, I'm going to head home now. You should come too." Hotaru said as she got up on her feet.

"I'll come along in a bit. I'm going to finish writing in my journal first before I go." Mikan replied.

Hotaru gives her a look of concern, "Don't stay too late."

"Don't worry, I won't stay late. I promise." Mikan replied with a smile.

Hotaru nods and leaves the garden.

Once Mikan was sure that Hotaru has left, she calls out, "Neko-chan, you can come out now, I know you're here."  
Sure enough, the assassin uncloaks and sits down at the tree directly opposite of her.  
"I'm getting better at sensing your presence." Mikan said while giggling.

Sure enough, Mikan is getting better at detecting the assassin. Every day, Mikan has been coming to the garden not just to take care of it, but to meet him.  
Ever since their first meeting here, they seem to always be here at the same time. At first it was just coincidence, but after a while, Mikan would wait here until he shows up.  
At beginning, he would stay hidden somewhere in the garden. Most of the times, he was up on a branch cloaked to be hidden from Mikan's view.  
However, Mikan always used her Ruwach spell to look for him because she just somehow had a feeling he would be around somewhere.  
After some time, the assassin gave up hiding from her. He said it wasn't worth the effort if Mikan was just going to run around with Ruwach to look for him.

"Why are you always hurt?" Mikan sighed as she walked over to where he was and started to tend to his wounds.

Although he doesn't admit it, he appreciates her healing his injuries.  
He claims that the only reason why he would let her heal him is because he doesn't like drinking potions, but he secretly enjoys being close to Mikan. Not that he would admit it. He is unsure of himself why he would even let her come close to him.  
While Mikan inspects his injuries and works on fixing them, she starts telling him about her day.  
This has somewhat become a daily routine for the two.  
Mikan will find him here, help heal him and talk to him; the assassin didn't talk much except for the teasing. Mikan always fought back in their verbal wars but always seem to loose.  
Although the two have a strange relationship with each other, they seem to get along in their own little ways. They won't admit it to themselves, much less each other, that they actually enjoy each others company.

"You've gotten better at this." The assassin said quietly.

Mikan beams at his comment. "I've been working hard to improve my skills you know. Your injuries are not always easy to heal, I have to work hard to improve myself so I can treat you properly." She said while smiling at him.

The assassin was taken aback by what she said. "For me?" he repeated in a low voice.

Mikan blushes because she realized what she had just said. She doesn't know why this slip up cause her to feel butterflies in her tummy. She's still dense and naive as always so she doesn't understand what's the significance of the overwhelming need she has to make sure he's safe and in good health. She reasoned that it's because she thinks of him as a friend that she feels obligated to look after his well being. She's the type of girl that would help anyone in need, even if she doesn't know them. But annoucing that she is training for his sake made her feel embarrassed and shocked. She was shocked because she didn't even know when that comment came from.

"Well, if I don't take care of you who will? You obviously don't take good care of yourself. I mean, look at your injuries. I don't even hurt myself as much as you do and I'm the clumsy one." Mikan babbled away while trying to control her voice and blush. She knew he was smirking at her underneath that masks of his so she turns and looks away from him.

"So you admit you're clumsy now, eh."

"Oh hush." Mikan replied turning a deeper red.

"I should get going now, try not to hurt yourself too badly before I see you again tomorrow." Mikan said as she got up and left.

_Meanwhile  
_  
"Hey Ruka, long time no see." Tsubasa called out to him when he saw him on the street.

"Hey Tsubasa senpai. What brings you to Morroc?" Ruka asks.

"I was sent here to do some investigating. The Prontera knights have asked the crusader guild for some help. So here I am, trying to finish my job. So what are you doing out so late? You know, it's not very good to be out so late these days."

"I just finished dinner and wanted to walk some of it off." Ruka replied with a smile, "It's not that bad in Morroc you know. Even though it's home to the Theif guild and close by is the Assassin guild, not all of them are bad. Actually, it's very rare for them to be bad. They're just awful names for those classes; I guess it can't be helped if they specialize in speed and stealth. It makes them perfect for those sorts of jobs."

"Don't worry; I remember that your friend Youchi has taken up the theif class. I'm sure he's still a good boy. I have nothing against the people in those classes. It's just the people in the dark guilds that worry me." Tsubasa said with a frown on his face at the mention of those guilds.

"Yeah, they seem to be very active lately." Ruka commented.

"Hey, Ruka, have you heard any news about that friend of yours that went missing?"

Ruka shakes his head sadly in response.

"Well, I don't want to scare you, but his situation sort of falls in line with some of the things the Prontera knights are investigating right now. You said that someone came and took his sister away and then shortly after he disappeared as well. Then after sometime, you thought you may have saw him as an assassin but he did not acknowledge you and disappeared after he helped you, correct?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"Well, lately we are led to believe that some of the new recruits are forced to do the guild's bidding. We're still trying to figure out what they are doing to make these people do what they want. What if they're holding people hostage to force these people to do their bidding? I wouldn't put it past them to do something like that."

"You think that they took Aoi away as hostage and force Natsume to work for them?" Ruka asked with alarm.

"I don't know. I honestly don't know. It is only a theory, it can be entirely wrong. But you said that your friend is a genius and really skilled. To be able to get someone like that to work for them would be absolutely perfect."

Ruka is now staring at the ground, thinking of all the possibilities of what happened to his dear friends.

Tsubasa realized that he has made Ruka go into a depressed and worried state, so he mentally scolds himself for being too careless when talking.

"Hey, don't worry about it ok. I was just sprouting random ideas. I'm sure your friend is ok."

Ruka sighs, "I really hope so. I feel so useless not able to help him. I don't even know where he is for God sakes. It's so frustrating. I've been training everyday to take my mind off of it and to get stronger. But lately we've been ending training early because of all the foul activity and it's giving me too much free time to think again."

Tsubasa nods, "Just work yourself extra hard to make yourself so tired you'll pass out early." He suggested.

"How close are you to getting to your second class? It seems like you guys are training very hard to get there fast."

"I'm almost there. I think I will be ready to change into a hunter in the upcoming week. I just have to finish off mastering improve concentration and learn the skill arrow shower before I change into a hunter. Hotaru and Yuu are quite close as well. I think they're even closer to changing then me because they were training at harder places then Mikan and I were before we met. They were more skilled and experienced then we were before we even started to train together. Training with them have helped us gain experience faster than we did alone. Mikan still has a bit more to go. She has a lot more skills to master before she should even try to change into a priestess."

"Yeah, the acolyte class is quite annoying. It has so many skills you would want to master before changing into your second class that it takes so long to train before you should change. Who's Hotaru and Yuu?"

"Oh, Hotaru is Mikan's best friend and Yuu is Hotaru's classmate. They're both mages."

"Ah, I see. Mages have many skills to master as well before changing to their second class. But because they specialize in offensive magic, unlike Acolytes that focus on supportive magic, they gain experience a lot faster. It's very fast if you're a really good mage. Skilled ones can probably out train classes that have less skills to learn." Tsubasa replied thoughtfully.

"Yeah, they're both really smart and experience."

"Hey don't worry. Your ability to change into your second classes so fast is very good already. It took Misaki and me forever before we finally changed into our second class. We sort of took our time, relaxed and trained slowly. It's also partially Misaki's fault. At first she was going to change into a priestess, but then she realized that she doesn't like to stand around and support others while fighting. She would much rather participate in the fight herself. However, her mentor frowned upon this and did not encourage it. Battle priests are rare and she was discouraged to go that path. It took her a while before she finally realized what she wanted to do. I waited for her to make her decision. It was a long wait but it also gave me time to think about what I wanted to do as well. So I guess it's worth it now that both of us have jobs we enjoy." Tsubasa said with a small smile on his face recalling what happened.

Ruka tried to imagine Masaki as a priestess but it really didn't work. Her powerful punch and fierce attitude doesn't really fit the priestess image very well. Ruka lets out a small laugh at his imagination. "Yeah, I don't think she really fits the priestess image very well. Mikan on the other hand seems to be perfect for that role. She's so caring for others; healing people seem to be second nature for her."

Tsubasa smiles at Ruka's comment, "You have a soft spot for Mikan don't you?" he teases Ruka a little.

Ruka blushes at what Tsubasa said.

"Don't worry, I won't tell her." He continues to tease Ruka.

"Anyways, I should get going." Ruka said while trying to change topics.

Tsubasa nods in agreement, "Yeah it's getting late, I should be going back to report to the general. Actually Ruka, do you have a picture of Aoi?" He asks as he thought of a good idea.

"Yeah, I have a picture of all three of us together. We took it when Natsume and I graduated from Novice Academy. Why?"

"Can I have a copy of that picture and their full names? I can pass the information on to the General when I meet him today and let him know of their situation. Maybe we can get some leads on what might be happening."

"You think those men that took her away could be from those guilds?"

"Who knows? Even if they're not involved, the general could probably pull some strings and get information on those documents that they used to claim that they're Aoi's gaurdians. Any documents like that is archived and the General would have access to it. The paper work can help gives us leads to where she might be now."

Ruka gives Tsubasa a grateful look. "Yeah, let's go to my house and I'll get the picture for you. And thank you for doing this for us."

"No problem," Tsubasa replied while ruffling up his hair as they walk back to Ruka's house.

* * *

YAY NxM 3 Sigh...Natsume just makes such a hot assassin.

Please review. I'll give you cookies ~nods nods~

Thanks Immortal-Gem for the story alert 3 3

Well see you guys next time :)


	17. Job Change!

Hi hi,

I had actually finished a good amount of this last week. But I was having trouble of the last part and only manged to finish it now.

I hope you enjoy it.

I have ideas for the next chapter already :)

* * *

_Next week at the Prontera church_

"Narumi-Sensei!" Mikan called out to get his attention.

"Hello Mi-chan, came to visit your dear sensei today?" He replies with a smile.

"Yes I did Sensei. I want to talk to you about changing to my second class and become a priestess."

"What's the rush Mi-chan?"

"Well, my friends are all changing to their second classes. I don't want to be left behind."

"Mi-chan, you know that's not a very good reason to change into a priestess. Changing classes is not something you should rush. You should really master your acolyte skills first before changing. On top of that, you should be mentally ready for the change. More power means more responsibilities and the responsibilities of a priestess are quite heavy."

"But, I don't want to be left behind. I feel so useless being a first class while all my friends are moving on to their second classes."

"Don't worry, they won't leave you behind. Just because they changed into their second job class doesn't mean they won't train with you. Take your time. You need to be mentally prepared and ready for the extra responsibilities that come with being a priestess before you change. I will not allow you to change until I'm sure that you're ready. I know you've been training really hard to become stronger. But I still feel that you're missing something. Don't worry about it too much; I'm sure you'll find it soon. I need to get going now Mi-chan. Why don't you go find Yuki-chan and the others?" Narumi-sensei said as he pranced off.

Mikan sighed and left to find Yuki. She was upset that her mentor wouldn't let her change into her second class but there's not much she can do about it for now. She'll just have to train harder to show him that she's ready.

_I wonder what he means when he said I'm missing something. I know I haven't finished mastering all my skills yet, but besides that, what am I missing?_ Mikan thought as she wonders around the church looking for Yuki.

_Meanwhile with Ruka_

Ruka steps off the airship as it lands in Hugel. He looks around to take in his surroundings. This is his first time in Hugel. He would love to be able to explore the town but right now he's here to apply for his second job.

After asking a local, he was able to locate the building to apply for his job change. It wasn't really that hard to find, there was a big sign with the word "Hunters" above the door of the building.

Ruka opens the door and goes inside the building.

_Ruka POV (A/N wow this is my first chapter where I actually write in first person POV :P we'll see how this works out)_

I walked up to the hunter behind the desk and spoke up, "Hi, I'm here to apply for a job change. I would like to become a hunter."

The hunter looks at me first and then hands me a piece of paper.

"Please fill out that application."

I took the application and started to answer all the questions. It was just a short application to make sure I'm qualified for the job change. Once I finished answering all the questions I handed it back to the hunter. I watched her scan over my application before fishing out some other paper work.

"Great, you seem to qualify for the job change. I'm Sharon and I'll explain to you how the job change here works. First, there will be a short written test to see if you will be a good addition to the hunter's guild. Second test is an item gathering test. The last test will test your marksmanship. Someone at each stage of the test will further explain the details to you. Now, here's the written test. It's quite simple, you have half an hour to finish it and hand it back to me." She said as she hands me the test papers.

I thanked her as I took the papers and a pencil and went to the designated corner for people writing the test. I sat down at one of the desks at that corner and began to work my way through the test.

I guess she was right about the difficulty of the test. It was fairly easy; it seemed more like a personality quiz then a technical test. I wonder what that's all about. Once I finished my test, I went to hand it in.

She took my test and scanned over my answers then directed me to another Hunter for the next task.

I guess I passed that part of the test.

I found the Hunter that was supposed to give me the next challenge. I think lady luck is on my side today as this too was an easy task. He asked me to go gather 5 Claws of dessert wolves, 5 Trunks and 3 White herbs.

Lucky, I had saved all my loot from our training sessions so I had all the items ready. Dessert wolves are not something I want to fight again to just to collect their claws. After that bad experience with Mikan with the wolves, I really didn't want to go hunt them. Lucky, I was told by upper classmen of all the possible items they'll ask me to collect so I saved all the loot whenever we went training. A quick trip to the Karfa storage and I was able to hand in all the items.

After handing in the items, I was sent to go back to Payon to the actual hunter's guild for my final test.

I was lucky enough that someone had a warp to Payon or else I would have had to take the airship back to Prontera before I could use the Karfa warps to get to Payon.

I quickly found the hunter guild and spoke to the examiner there. I was warped to some maze that is a part of the examination. This maze is full of different type of monsters. Some are aggressive and some are not. They are all wearing different tags. I am only to hit the ones that say "Job Change Monster." If I hit any other monster, I would fail the test.

As I walk through the maze, I carefully looked at the tag of each monster before attacking. It was very tricky since some of the tags looked like the target ones. Some monsters had the tag "Job Change Monsters" and "job change monster". I almost shot an arrow at those monsters since their tags were so similar to the ones I have to kill. Another thing that made the test so difficult was the fact that there are aggressive monsters that I'm not allowed to hit. I have to run away from those monsters while keeping an eye out for the ones I can hit. I was so happy when I finished killing 4 monsters with the tag "Job Change Monster." I ran to the exit portal immediately.

Once I was out of the maze, the guildsman gave me a "Necklace of Wisdom" to give to Sharon as a symbol that I have passed the test. I felt so happy about passing I immediately warped to Izlude to get on the airship to fly to Hugel once again. I really despise the airship since it was so slow. But it's the only way I can get to Hugel if I can't find a priest to warp.

Once I was in Hugel, I headed back to the Hunter's building and went straight to Sharon.

I handed her the necklace of wisdom and she congratulates me.

She gives me my new uniform and directed me to the change room to change.

After changing into my new uniform I went back to Sharon. She gives me the proper introduction to the Hunter's guild and assigns an experience hunter to go through the basic skills with me.

Looks like I'll be here for another week to complete my crash course on being a hunter. They can't just let newly appointed hunters go without learning the basics. It would ruin the guild image I guess.

I turned on my communicator and called Mikan, "Hey Mikan."

"Hi Ruka!" I heard her voice reply to me.

"I just wanted to let you know that I just completed my hunter test and I got initiated into the guild! But it looks like I'll be training in Hugel for the next week. They want to teach me the basics before I start training on my own."

"Congratulations Ruka! I knew you would be able to do it. I guess I won't be able to see you for another week. Just give me a call when you can train again."

"I sure will. I just wanted to give you a heads up. I'll call you again when I get back from Hugel next week. See you later Mikan."

"Bye Ruka. Good luck!" she replied before we closed off our communication.

_Meanwhile with Hotaru (Hotaru POV)_

"Bye Yuu, good luck with your Sage test." I said before we parted.

"Thanks Hotaru, good luck with your test too! I'll see you later." Yuu replied before he got a warp from the Karfa lady to head to Juno.

Once he left I went inside Geffen Tower and started my walk up to the top floor where the wizard examination takes place. Why they have it all the way at the top of the building never made any sense to me.

Once I got to the top floor I approached the wizard sitting behind the desk.

"I would like to apply to become a wizard." I said to him.

He silently hands me an application to fill out. Once I was done with it, I handed it back to him for examination.

"It looks like you finished mastering all your skills. As a reward you get to bypass the item collection part of the test. The first part of your exam will be a written exam. Are you ready to take it?" he asks me.

"Yes I am ready" Then he hands me a booklet with the questions and a scantron card.

"It's multiple choices. Please pick the correct answer for each question and fill it out on this card. Once you're done with the test, feed the answer sheet through that machine there in the corner and it will tally up your score. You must get above 80% to pass the test. Good luck."

I thanked him and went over to a desk to take my test. Once I was finished with my test, I stuck my answer sheet into the machine. Of course my score was 100%. I wouldn't expect anything less.

I took my result sheet back to the examiner and he directs me to another wizard for the practical examination.

Once I talked to the gloomy looking wizard, he warps me to the waiting room for the practical exam. Once the mage that went in before me finished the test, I was able to start my exam. The practical exam consists of 3 different rooms of monsters. I have 3 minutes to clear out each room and I must not faint at any time during the test.

The moment I stepped into the first room I notice that it was all water element type of monsters. I was glad I brought along my clip of undercast with me since there were aggressive monsters in this room. Under normal circumstances, if I get hit by a monster, my cast will be interrupted rendering me useless. But this clip has special enchantments that allow me to ignore everything and finish casting my spells without being interrupted.

I quickly started to cast thunderstorm to try and to take out a bunch of the monsters at once. The Marine Sphere exploded before I could finish casting destroying itself and damaging some of the monsters around it. Luckily I was far enough from it that it wasn't able to hurt me. The amount of damage it's capable of dealing when it self destruct would have knocked me unconscious instantly.

Once my spell finished casting it destroyed the rest of the monsters in the room. The portal to exit this room activated when all the monsters were destroyed. I quickly downed a couple of red potions before going into the next room.

The moment I stepped into the next room, the room lit up and I surveyed the area around me.  
The monsters took a moment before realizing that I was here.

I took a quick glance around the room to find that all the monsters here were earth element type of monsters.  
Some of the aggressive monsters started to approach me.  
I quickly casted several firewalls to keep them from touching me.

The stupidity of the monsters work to my advantage. You would think that they'll stop moving once they hit that wall of fire. But instead of stopping, they keep on trying to move towards me only to be repelled in pain by the firewall.

I quickly casted my fireball spell at the aggressive monsters that were running into my firewall and breaking it. Fireballs worked very well since it hits multiple monsters at the same time.  
Once I was finished with the aggressive monsters, I started casting normal firebolt spells on the other monsters in the room.

"One Minute left."  
I heard the announcement on the speaker.  
I had to hurry and finish killing the Bigfoot that is left. That huge bear can somehow detect spells so I had to cast a firewall first before I targeted him with my firebolt spell. As the rain of fire came down on the Bigfoot, the announcement for 30 seconds left was announced.  
Once the Bigfoot fell, the portal to the next room opened. Once again I quickly downed a couple of potions to restore my health and spiritual energy.  
"_Last room_" I thought to myself as I walked through the portal into the last room.

Once again, I quickly surveyed the room.  
"_Crap, they saved the worst for last."_ I thought as I finished reviewing the monsters in the room.  
All the monsters in this room belong to the fire element. They are also the most aggressive out of all the monsters I had faced so far.  
Firewall will not keep them off of me, and I don't have any ice elemental spells that can hit multiple monsters at once.  
The Dessert Wolf started to charge at me at once. Out of all the aggressive monsters here, the wolf was the fastest moving one. I quickly cast Frost Diver to freeze it in place.  
Once it was frozen, I noticed the other aggressive monsters were also making their way to me, however at a much slower pace. I quickly cast Frost Diver on the rest of the aggressive monster to stop them from approaching me.

I figured that the Wolf would be able to get out of the ice block before I finish casting my bolt spell so I choose to cast cold bolt on it instead of lightening.  
Just as I was about finished casting my spell, the wolf broke of the ice.  
It shook off the remained of the ice on its fur and growled at me. Just as it pounced, my spell finished casting and the shards of ice stabbed at him causing it to fall onto the ground dead.

The high level cold bolt spell took too long for me to cast. I didn't really have a choice since the Dessert wolf is quite tough and requires a lot of damage to bring it down. Problem with high level spells is that it takes much longer to cast. The other monsters I have frozen are slowing thawing one by one.  
I attracted the aggressive monsters to one location and quickly cast Frost Diver on each of the monster so they're still bunched up together.  
Once they were frozen, I started to cast thunder storm. Since they were frozen, it temporarily changes their element to water. Lightening spells does double damage to water element.  
I noticed the ice was starting to crack at the end of my spell. I was lucky that my spell finished casting and hit the group before they thawed.  
"One Minute left." The speakers announced.  
I quickly spotted the Peco Peco and Metaller hiding in the corner of the room.  
Lucky for me that these monsters are much weaker than the rest so I casted my Ice bolt at half the maximum strength to kill them. Casting at lower strength allows me to cast faster and finish the test in time.  
Once the two monsters fell, the portal to exit the room opened.  
I stepped onto the portal and was immediately teleported back to the room where I signed up to become a wizard.  
I went to talk to the wizard behind the desk again and he congratulates me for doing a good job with the test.  
He hands me my new wizard uniform and directs me to the change room.  
I like the wizard uniform a lot more then the mage's uniform. The mage's uniform was too revealing and attracted too much attention for my liking.

The standard wizard dress is a blue short sleeve dress. It has a v-neck and gold embroidery around the v-cut.  
It's dress goes to about mid thigh and has the gold trimmings at the edges.  
Even though the dress is fairly short, the knee boots limits the amount of skin that shows.  
I'm also quite happy with my new cape. Unlike the mage's cape which only covers your back, this one actually wrap around my body and falls all the way to my ankles.

Satisfied with my new uniform, I used a fire spell to burn away my old uniform.  
"Good riddance," I mutter as I watched it burn away.

I walked back to the wizard and he hands me extra sets of uniform and new textbooks that will teach me new wizard skills.  
I gave him my thanks and broke my butterfly wing to send me home.

_Back to Mikan  
_  
After a long day of failed attempts to convince her mentor that she's ready to change into a priestess, Mikan retires to her garden.  
She couldn't go home all depressed like this. What would Ji-Chan say if he saw her like this?  
She lets out a long sigh as she sat herself down under her favourite tree.

"I don't understand why he won't let me change into a priestess. Sure, there are still some more skills I need to finish mastering, but I can do that later can't I? What am I missing?!" Mikan shouted with frustration, and then her eyes soften and whimpered, "I don't want to be left behind."

She let out another sigh and stared at the fluffy clouds in the sky. She took long deep breaths while humming a soft tune in attempts to get herself out of depression. As she began to relax, her eyelids grew heavy and slowly, she closed her eyes and drifted off to dreamland.

_After the sunset_

Mikan was still peacefully sleeping in her garden after dark. It seems like her frustrating day has worn her out and her nap got a little out of hand.  
Suddenly, a shrill alarm sounded from inside Prontera. It was loud enough that it brought the little brunette out or dreamland.  
Hazily, she slowly rubbed her eyes and tried to comprehend what's going on.  
Realizing that it's all dark and she couldn't see anything, she casted Ruwach to light up the area.

Then she realized that she was still out in her garden and it's now after dark.  
"Oh no, something must have happened in town for the city alarm to go off. And I'm outside the city right now, this can't be good." Mikan started to freak out.  
She could make out noises that sound like yelling from a distance and lots of movement.  
"What should I do? The guards are probably all over the place right now. It probably wouldn't be smart for me to walk on the streets. But I should really go home; Ji-Chan will be worried." Mikan talked to herself while running around in little circles with her arms waving in the arm.

While running in her panic mode, she wasn't really paying attention to where she was going and ran right into something, actually to be more accurate, ran straight into someone.

She ran into him with so much force that she toppled on top of him.

"Itai," she whimpered while still on top of him.

"How long are you going to stay on top of me." A familiar voice asked her roughly.

"Eeks," she lets out a loud shriek.

The assassin quickly rolls them over right into a bush. Now that he's on top of her, he places a hand over her mouth. "No screaming." He said quietly.

Mikan struggles under his weight and fights to get his hand off of her mouth.

"Damn it, stop struggling. I don't want to hurt you." He commands her.

"I'll lift my hand away from your mouth but you can't scream ok?" He asks her.

Mikan gives a small nod.

He slowly lifts his hand off of her mouth.

"What do you think you were doing?!" Mikan yelled at him.

"Damn it, I told you to be quiet." He places his hand back on her mouth.

Mikan struggles again under his weight. They could both hear faint footsteps running around somewhere outside the garden.

"Stop moving or they'll find us."

Then he notice Mikan was trying to move his hand away from her mouth and her face was starting to change color.

"Crap, sorry" He quickly lifted his hand.

Mikan quickly sucks in air to her lungs. Once she decided that she had enough she glares at the assassin, "What are you trying to do! Kill me?" She said rather loudly.

He winced at what she said and replied softly, "You know I would never do that."

"I don't know what I know anymore." Her voice started to get louder again.

Then they heard the footsteps getting closer. It seemed to be coming towards the trees and bushes that hide the garden. It was getting quite close to where they were since they were in the bushes surrounding the garden.

Mikan was still squealing and struggling under his weight and it was sure to attract attention when they get close enough.

The assassin quickly grabbed both her hands to stop her from struggling only to earn more squeals from her. Then he silences her by capturing her lips with his own and swallowing her squeals.

Mikan became still as a statue and her eyes grew big as she realized that he is now kissing her.

Voices could be heard talking basically right beside them on the other side of the tree right beside this bush they're hiding in.

"I swear I thought I heard something." A voice said.

"Maybe we should look around." A second voice suggested.

Natsume became alarm at that suggestion. He spotted a Fabre, grabbed it and threw it out of the bush.

"Gahhh" The second voice they heard screamed.

"Relax, it's just a Fabre. Don't tell me you're scared of a little insect." (A/N Fabre is a green little insect in the game. I guess it's kinda like a baby caterpillar....~shivers~ I'm scared of bugs)

"It just startled me, that's all. I didn't expect it to come flying out of the bush at me." The second speaker defended himself.

"It must be protecting it's home. Probably scared some novice away from here too which caused all the screaming."

"Probably. Kids these days just aren't the same as when we were kids."

"Oh please, you screamed like a little girl when it jumped on you. How did you ever become a knight."

"Shut up. Lets keep on moving."

Then they left the little tree area.

Once the assassin as sure that they were gone, his lips left hers and he slowly got up away from her.

Mikan finally snaps out of her trance when she felt his weight gone.

"You stole my first kiss" She exclaims.

"How will I ever get married?! I'm tainted now." She wails.

"What's the big deal. It's just a kiss." He responds.

"Of course it's important. Your first kiss is important. I wanted to share it with someone I love!" She fought back fiercely.

The assassin lets out a sigh and mutters something about innocent little acolytes while Mikan continue to raves on about her lost inability to get married now.

"Be quiet or else I'll kiss you again." He said as he plops down on the ground beside her.

Mikan stops her complaining and glares at him.

"It was my first kiss too, you know." He said softly.

Mikan stared at him in disbelief. The anger she felt was melting away. "_This is his way of trying to cheer me up",_ Mikan thought to herself.

Sigh, "don't think I'm letting you off the hook so easily." Mikan said to him.

"Now tell me, what's going on out there! Why did the alarm sound? Were they chasing after you?"

"You know, some things you're better off not knowing." He responded.

"Then how am I suppose to know if I can trust you or not. You never tell me anything when we meet here. I don't even know your name." Mikan said in frustration.

"I wish I could tell you, I really do." He responded. "But if you know too much, it'll just put you in danger." He said the last part softly.

"Please, if you can't tell me what you do, at least tell me your name. I really don't want to keep on calling you Neko-san."

The assassin looked at her and sighed. "One day, I promise I'll tell you. But that day is not now, Mikan."

Mikan blushed when he said her name. It was nice to hear the sound of her name from his lips. She doesn't know why it had this effect on her. Maybe it's because he rarely calls her by her name. It's always Ugly, little girl, stupid, even the pattern on her underwear! She still doesn't know how he figures out what she's wearing that day. Maybe she should stop tripping and falling in front of him all the time.

"You should go back home now. Your Ji-Chan will be worried." He said snapping her out of her thoughts.

"I guess I should, but just walking back into Prontera right now probably isn't a good idea."

"You really are stupid aren't you? Use your teleport spell. If you have mastered your skill, you have a choice to teleport to anywhere in the current field or to the memo you saved as home."

"Oh yeah." Mikan giggles. "I can teleport to the church then walk home."

"Wait, before I go, are you ok? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." He responded, he was going to say more but stopped himself.

He has a hesitant look at his face while thinking. "I'm not going to be here for a while. So don't wait for me."

"Eh? Where are you going?" Mikan asks.

"None of your business. You better get going. It's late."

Mikan lets out a sigh, "I'll be here anyways. So when you need me, just drop by."

Then she teleports away from the garden back into the city.

After he watched her teleport away, he takes out a really expensive looking necklace and sighs. Then he crushes the butterfly wing in his hand and disappears as well.

* * *

I hope the whole job changing thing wasn't boring. I really needed to explain at least 2 of their job change process so you understand how it works.

Each job change quest is different in the game. It depends on what class you are changing into and what job level you go to before you change.

If you change at job 50, you usually get some sort of bonus.

I was scared that the job changing bits were boring so I upgrade my NxM scene to be a kissing scene.

At first I was just going to have them talk and get Natsume to comfort her. But I thought this would be much more fun :P

Thanks HyuugaYingLang and oObroken-wingsOo for the story alert

And thanks for the review: XxblackwingsxX, HyuugaYingLang, sahome, badinfluence, oObroken-wingsOo and Natsumi :) You guys get cookies

~hands out chocolate chip cookies~

Let me know what you think of the first person PoV

Thanks guys


	18. Party Town

Hi Guys

Sorry for the late update.

I've been so busy at work that it kinda just drains me....can't really think...then there was the 2x exp event on RO...so i had to lvl :P

Hopefully I can get out another chapter before I go on my ski trip next week.

:)

* * *

After the incident, Mikan still went to the garden every day.  
Every night, she'll leave the garden upset because the assassin didn't show up.  
She doesn't know why she's so bothered by his missing presence. But there was nothing she could do; he did warn her in advance that he will not be coming back for a while.  
Yet she still hoped that she'll be able to see him if she hung around the garden long enough.

She's been spending her days at the church since her friends seem to be busy self studying the new skills that came with their new jobs.  
She's been working hard at keeping herself busy so that she wouldn't be so depress about not being able to change class. She figured, the faster she can improve, the faster she can join her friends being in their second classes. She hasn't given much thought to what she might be missing that stopped her from job changing.

One day, when Mikan was still at her home trying to decide what to do for the day, someone came knocking at her door.  
She went to open it and was surprised to see Ruka at her door.  
"Hi Ruka," She greeted brightly as she examined the new uniform he was wearing.  
Gone were the blue pants, beige sleeveless top covered with a brown vest with a red scarf to top it off.  
The old uniform has been replaced by the hunter's uniform which consists of a beige short sleeve turtle neck which is covered at the top by a white jacket that is cut right below the chest area. He's also wearing some sort of beige shorts over his pearly white pants. The shorts provide some sort of arrow holding capability which is why they wear them over their pants.

"You look great with your new uniform." She stated after the examination.

Ruka blushes, "Thanks."

"um...Mikan, are you busy today?" Ruka asks.

"Actually, I haven't decided what I wanted to do today yet."

"Would you like to come with me to Comodo? My friends invited me to go and visit them. It's a really nice place and I haven't seen you in a while so I was hoping you'll come with me." Ruka asks nervously.

Mikan smiles brightly at him, "that would be great. I haven't seen any of you guys in a while since you were all busy."

"Sorry about that. We didn't mean to leave you alone. It was sort of unplanned that we would change classes at the same time."

"It's ok. I'm glad at least you're back. I don't think Hotaru is coming back until next week." Mikan said sadly.

"I'm sure she'll be ready to try out her new skills soon. Let's get going. I think Comodo will help lift your mood."

"Give me a second to grab my backpack." Mikan said as she ran back into the house really fast to get her backpack.

"Alright. I'm ready! Lets go." Mikan stated excitedly.

Ruka smiled at her. "We can take Karfa warps there. First warp to Morroc and then to Comodo."

Mikan nods as she cast Increase Agility on both of them so they can walk faster to the Karfa worker.

_In Comodo_

The warmth of Comodo engulfed the two when they appeared on the beach.  
The sky has a nice pink glow to it, the sand is sparkling and you can hear music playing at the close by auditorium.

Mikan looked around excitedly while Ruka observed her reaction with a smile. He had felt bad about leaving her all by herself for the past week. He knew that Hotaru and Yuu were also changing into their second class at the same time meaning Mikan would be all alone. So he wanted to make it up to her now for leaving her all alone without training partners for the week.

"I think my friend said to meet him by the auditorium. Let's go there to see if I can find him." Ruka said as he started to walk towards the music.  
Mikan quickly fell into step behind him all the while still looking around in excitement.

It was very busy around the stage area. There was a band playing on stage, dancers performing, some audience were dancing and some were sitting at the tables below the stage enjoying the show. The stage was right by the beach. You can see the beautiful sea perfectly from the stage area.  
Mikan got so excited to be so close to the water she quickly ran pasted the stage area and straight for the beach.  
She stopped before she reached the water and looked at the view before her.  
She took a deep breath, breathing in the fresh air as she watched the birds flying off in the distance.

Ruka came and stood beside her. "You've never been here before?" he asks.

"Nope! Have you?"

"Yeah, Natsume and my family use to come here for vacation every year. We usually take a week off and come here to relax on the beach." Ruka said with a hint of sadness.

"Ah I see. That must be nice. I never got to go on vacation. It's just me and my grandpa and we're living off his life savings from when he was younger so we can't really afford a vacation. But it's ok. Grandpa tells me lots of stories about all the places he's been to when he was an adventurer. It's nice to finally see some of those places myself." Mikan said with a smile.

Then she took off her shoes and socks and placed them on the sand. She rolled up the hem of her dress and ran into the water.  
"Ah, the temperature of the water is perfect. Not hot or cold. It provides a nice relief to all this heat."

Ruka laughs, "I guess I'm use to the heat since I'm from Morroc. But I do agree with you. The water is a nice way to cool down after a long day of baking in the sun."

"Hey Ruka, long time now see." A bard said as he and another bard walked towards them.

"Hey bro, how's it going?" Ruka replied while giving them high fives as they greeted each other.

Mikan took this opportunity to walk back onto the beach.

"Oh guys, this is Mikan, Mikan Sakura." Ruka introduced her.

"Mikan-chan, this is Yome Kokoroyomi and Kitsuneme. They're my friends form archer school." Ruka introduced the two bards to her.

"Hello, nice to meet you." Mikan said as she flashed them her bright smile.

"Ah, so she's the acolyte you always went to train with. Just call me Koko, it's easier." Koko said to her and winked at Ruka causing him to blush.

"Yeah you can call me Kit." Kitsuneme chipped in.

"Congratulations on becoming bards. How do you like it?" Ruka asked in attempted to talk about something else and it worked.

"It's great, we party all the time." Kitsuneme replied.

Ruka laughs, "You two are the same as ever. I guess becoming bards was perfect for you guys."

"RUKA-SAMA" a female voice screamed.

Ruka's face turned pale when he heard that voice.

"You guys didn't say anything about her being here." Ruka accused.

"Sorry mate, she just changed into a Dancer recently. Didn't think you'll be here when she was still around." Koko replied.

"Who are you talking about?" Mikan asks.

"Just some fangirl that was in my class." Ruka replied and started to look for something to hide behind.

Since they were on the beach there was nothing he could use to hide himself so he quickly pulled Koko in front of him as a dancer flung herself at him.

"I miss you so much Ruka-Sama. Look, I'm a dancer now! Do you like my new uniform?" She asked while trying to show off her new dancer uniform which is basically a bikini with robe that is tied at the waist the only covers their back side. Then she looked up only to realize that it wasn't Ruka that she was hugging.

"What the?! Koko why did you get in the way!" She exclaimed and then shoved him aside to reveal Ruka. Just as she was about to hug him he jumps away to and hid behind Mikan.

She halts her attack as soon as she saw Mikan.

"Who are you and who do you think you are to be so close to Ruka-Sama." The dancer demanded as she glared at Mikan.

Mikan sweatdrops, "Um, I'm Mikan Sakura. Who are you?"

"I'm the beautiful Sumire, president of the Ruka-Sama fanclub. You have no right to be close to Ruka-Sama. You're not even a club member." The dancer declares.

"Mikan is my friend, don't talk to her like that." Ruka defended her.

"But...but..." Sumire stuttered.

"Sumire, you should stop this before you make a fool of yourself." Koko cuts in while he puts a hand on her shoulder to hold her back.

"Wow Ruka, you were popular in the Archer School." Mikan commented.

Ruka blushes at his comment while the boys chuckled.

"Yeah he was. The girls in the school chased him everywhere. Normally he runs away from girls, we were surprised he as hanging out with one. But seeing how you're nothing like Sumire here, I can see why he would hang out with you." Kitsuneme said with an amused smile on his face while smoke starts to come out of Sumire's ear.

Koko noticed her hostile mood and started on strum on his lute and told really horrible jokes. Kitsuneme joined in with Koko and started to stum his guitar and tell jokes as well.

The jokes were so bad that the people within hearing range froze in their spots.

Once Sumire recovered from her frozen state, she shook her head and said, "So that's how you want to play eh. Well two can play at this game."

Then she started to scream at them.  
"Lame!!!"

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!"

"Argggghhhhh!!"

"I'm pregnant."

With that last sentence she screamed, everyone was stunned and started at her with bewildered eyes.

She noticed that they were all stunned and gave a triumph smile.

Once Mikan recovered she started to freak out. "Oh my! You're pregnant?!!! Aren't you too young to have a baby!"

Koko and Kitsuneme started to laugh while Ruka stared at Sumire in disbelief.

"Um, who's the father?" Ruka asks.

Then Sumire turns beet red and tried to explain while panicking. "No no, I'm not pregnant."

"Then why did you just scream that you are?" Mikan asks causing the two boys to laugh even harder.

Ruka didn't say anything but he was thinking the same thing. He sent the boys a confused look.

Koko tried to suppress his laughter and started to explain to them what just happened. "You see, when I saw that Sumire was getting really mad, I started to use my skill called Frost Joke. It's basically an ability to freeze people on the spot by telling really bad jokes. Kit joined in when he realized what I was doing. Once Sumire snapped out of her frozen state she wanted to get back at us by using her skill called Dazzler. It's similar to the bard's skill except the dancers shout random phrases and have the ability to stun people. Sort of like what happened to us when she said that she's pregnant."

"That's some weird skills you guys have. I was thinking that you must have hit your head or something to cause you to loose your sense of humour. What's so good about these skills anyways? " Ruka asks.

"It's good when you're battling against other people like in Izlude's battle Arenas or for War of Emperium." Kitsuneme answers.

"So Permy is not pregnant?" Mikan asked still slightly confused at what's happening.

"Of course not! And who are you calling Permy!!" Sumire retorted.

The boys laughed. "It suits you well," Kitsuneme said.

Sumire gave out a little humph and turned away from them to walked back towards the stage area.

"Comeon guys, lets get back to the party." Koko said as he led the group back to the stage area.

_Meanwhile in Prontera Castle  
_  
"Thank you very much sir. This information will be very useful for me." A male voice could be heard.

"No, thank you for reporting the finding. If this is what they're doing to gain new members, then we must find out how to free the hostages. That would also mean that some of the new members are actually innocent." A deeper male voice answered.

"They seem to be attract to people who show a lot of potential in the Novice Academy." The first voice replied.

"We'll contact the assassin guild to ask for their help. They can send in their people and keep an eye out for anything suspicious and scout out which students may appeal to these people. In the mean time, I'll redirect some of the knights to search for possible hiding places where they're keeping the hostages. You're dismissed for now. I'll contact you when we're in further need of your help." The second voice said.

"Yes sir." The first voice answered and then a crusader could be seen coming out of the office and closing the door behind him.

The crusader began to walk down the hallway away from the general's office only to be decked by a pink hair monk.

"What took you so long Tsubasa?" Misaki scolded him.

"Ow, that hurts you know." Tsubasa complained as he rubbed his poor head.

"It's your fault for taking so long with your mission." Misaki chided him.

"Can't you just be happy that I'm back?" Tsubasa asked.

"You took way too long. What slowed you down anyways?" Misaki asks.

"Oh, I saw Ruka during my mission and decided to help him with his friend's situation. So I took a detour and did more research before I came back. It seemed like his friend's case is somehow related to what we're investigating."

"Do you think we should tell Ruka?"

"I don't know. I don't want him to get even more worried than he is now. But if he knows of the situation, maybe he would be able to provide some help."

"It is a hard call. But you don't have to make the decision now so don't worry about it too much." Misaki said as she tried to comfort Tsubasa.

"Sigh, I hope the General will have better news for me next time we meet."

"Well, now that you're finally back, you should take me out for lunch to make it up to me for coming back late."

Tsubasa laughs, "Alright, let's go to that Café that you like so much."

"That sounds more like it." Misaki replied with a big smile as they walked out of the castle and into the town.

* * *

I'll introduce more chars next week :)

you can guess who and what class

I thought Koko would make a good Bard...and Sumire a good Dancer

I'm not a big kokoxsumire fan...more of a kokoxAnne...but bards and dancer make good pairs _

I'm working on developing more for the whole...natsume and those bad guy plots :P

we'll see how long it'll go until it all comes out into the open

Sorry it's late so i'm not gonna list who reivewed etc this time

But thanks a lot tho...I read all the reviews 3 3

3 you for reviewing

ok time to sleep good night


	19. Sunken Ship

Hi guys,

This one is a little rushed. Sorry I didn't have enough time to double check this more.

I really wanted to get a Christmas Special out but this one has to come out first.

I don't think I'll make it in time since Christmas is tomorrow. I hope you don't mind a delayed Christmas special.

* * *

_Alberta_

"Wow, I love the fresh ocean air." Mikan exclaims.

"Didn't you get enough of the water when you were at Comodo?" Hotaru asks.

"Nope. It's different. Comodo was a beach setting. This is a port!" Mikan stated.

"It's just water. You're too easily excitable." Hotaru pointed out.

"I take pleasure in life's little offerings." Mikan replied.

Hotaru rolled her eyes.

"Hey guys, this sailor over here said he can take us to explore the Sunken Ship" Yuu announced his finding.

"Oh, you mean the haunted ship wreck off the coast of Alberta? I heard it's an awesome place to explore and gain experience." Ruka replied.

"Haunted?" Mikan repeated in a scared voice.

"Just monsters that are of the undead or demon property. I think there's a Ghostring on that ship too." Hotaru responded.

"Don't worry Mikan. It'll be sort of like the training we did in Payon caves. You've already faced zombies and skeletons before." Ruka reminded her.

Mikan shivered, "I guess that's true. I didn't like it but I eventually got use to it."

"Alright then, let's go!" Koko exclaimed as he and Kitsuneme ran towards the sailor.

"Remind me again why we brought those 2 along." Hotaru asked.

"They have skills that will be useful for us. Plus, the more the merrier." Mikan replied with a smile.

"Just be alert all the time and get your priorities straight. Big parties are hard to support." Hotaru said to her.

"Awwww, you do worry about me." Mikan exclaimed happily as she tried to hug Hotaru.

Hotaru side steps and Mikan ends up on the ground, "Tch, I just want to make sure we'll all be alive."

Ruka and Yuu sweat dropped watching the two of them.

"Come on, let's get going." Hotaru said as she walked off to the Sailor as well.

_On the island beside the sunken ship  
_  
"Ok guys, do you have everything?" Yuu asked as everyone double checks their items.

"Yup, all accounted for." Koko replied.

"Ok then, off we go." Ruka said as he led the way towards the ship wreck that is just beside the shore of this small island.

_Inside the ship wreck  
_  
Mikan shivers, "I don't like this place."

"Concentrate Mikan." Hotaru reminded her.

"Hai." She responded and started to cast buffs on everyone (buffs= supportive spells like blessing and agility up. There are more supportive spells later when she change classes)

Koko started playing on his Lute when Mikan started to cast her spells. He played a song called Magic strings and it increased her casting time. (A/N I love magic strings, we normally just call it strings. It shortens the cast time and decrease the delay after casting any skill for anyone that's in the effected area.)

Once she finished casting her spells on everyone, they started moving deeper in the ship. Koko kept on playing while walking allowing our magic casters to cast their spells quickly.

While they were walking, skeletons with pirate clothing charged at them with their swords drawn. Yuu casted firewall in-between the party and the monsters while Kitsuneme and Ruka shot at them. Hotaru kept an eye out for anything that may come at them from behind.

Once they got to a doorway further in the boat, they found it blocked by a big group of Hydras. Hotaru began casting Thunderstorm over the group of Hydras to take them out all together while the rest of the party defended themselves.

"This skill is really useful. I like having a shorter cast time." Hotaru commented.

"Thanks, we got a lot more songs that are helpful to the party as well. But right now we really don't need any others except for this one right now." Koko replied.

"Ouch," Mikan cried out as she fell onto the floor.

"Sigh, why are you so clumsy." Hotaru asks.

"I'm not that clumsy!!!" Mikan replied.

"You fell down all of a sudden for no reason at all." Hotaru stated.

Mikan looks at the ground around her. "That's strange. I swear something wrapped around my ankle and pulled so I fell. I thought a Hydra spawned behind us."

Hotaru surveys the area. "Nothing is behind you. Come on, get up, I want to explore the bottom area of the ship."

Mikan sighs and got up with the help of Ruka. Then they descended the ladder leading them into the bottom area.

Once they got to the bottom area and started to walk around once more, all of a sudden something white popped up behind Koko and hit him on the head.

"Ouch," he exclaimed while rubbing his head, "What the hell?" he asked as he looked around.

Hotaru and Yuu quickly casted Sight and revealed a ghost that looked pretty much like a small pillow case floating next to Koko's head getting ready to whack him again.

Ruka tried to shoot at it but his arrow went straight through the ghost.

"Ah it's a Whisper, it's Ghost property," Kitsuneme commented, "you'll need elemental arrows to be able to hit them. Silver and fire enchanted arrows will deal the most damage." He noted as he passed Ruka a quiver of Silver arrows.

"Thanks," Ruka replied as he took 2 silver arrows out of the quiver and notched them into his bow.

He shot both out at once, hitting the Whisper twice in one shot while Mikan cast heals on Koko.

"Mikan, can you keep Ruwach up? It'll be easier than for me and Hotaru to keep Sight up and cast spells to kill the monsters." Yuu suggested.

Mikan nods and casts Ruwach to help unveil any monsters close to them.

They kept on going and explored the different rooms at the bottom of the ship.  
However, the mobs eventually got too much to handle and they were quickly getting tired.

A Marionette was able to stab Ruka's arm with her candle holder that looks like a trident.

Ruka stumbled away from the Marionette while Kitsuneme repelled it away by shooting at it.

Mikan was taking a step towards Ruka to examine his wound but was pushed away and fell on the floor.

"Ruka-Sama!! You're hurt! Let me have a look." A dancer exclaimed while she jumped on Ruka and hugged him.

The rest of the group sweat drop at the scene. "Um, Sumire, you should let Mikan heal Ruka's wound." Koko said as he found his voice first.

"What good would she do? She's just a clumsy little girl, you can't depend on her. I can bandage his wound just fine. I learnt first aid." She bragged.

Mikan was hurt by her statement and Hotaru noticed the pain in her eyes. "No one is allowed to make her sad besides me" she mumbled to herself as she casted icewalls around the party to keep the monsters away from them.

"Get off me." Ruka said while struggling to get out of her hold.

Kitsuneme grabbed Sumire by her muffler and dragged her off Ruka so Mikan can help him.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her.

"I, eh, followed you here." Sumire responded.

"How did you know we were coming here with Ruka today." He continues to interrogate her.

"I overheard your conversation when you were planning the party today with Ruka, so I followed you guys." She admitted.

"What makes you think that Mikan is clumsy?" Hotaru questions her.

"How can someone who falls over so easily and is so clueless be dependable?" Sumire replied.

"You made her fall didn't you? She said she felt something wrap around her ankle and pulled. But there were no hydras around; you could have made her fall by using your whip. You are jealous of Mikan since she hangs out with Ruka so you followed us and tried to make a fool out of her." Hotaru accused.

Sumire looked down with nothing to say.

By this time, Mikan has finished healing Ruka and they were watching what's transpiring.

"I think you should go home now," Koko suggested trying to break the tension between Hotaru and Sumire.

"No, you're not the boss of me. I can do whatever I want." Sumire said as she stood up and walked away from the group.

"Thanks for healing me Mikan. Don't worry about what she said, you're a great support." Ruka said trying to comfort her.

Mikan felt better after Ruka's comment and she flashed him a bright smile. "Thanks Ruka."

Then they heard a really loud scream. "That must be Sumire." Koko exclaimed.

"She might be in trouble; we better go see if she's ok." Yuu suggested.

Hotaru was hesitant in helping her but after Mikan gave her a pleading look she sighed and went along with them to see what's wrong.

They found Sumire on the floor outside of the Captian's room. She was badly hurt. It seems like she got out just in time before it was too late.  
Mikan quickly went to Sumire and started healing her with her spells. Once most of the wounds have closed up Sumire regain conciousness and asked, "Why are you helping me after how mean I was to you."

"Don't worry about it; I can't just leave you alone if you're hurt. It's in my nature to help people." Mikan replied with a smile.

Sumire felt ashamed at herself but accepted Mikan's help.

"So what happened?" Koko asked.

"Well, after I left you guys, I decided to wander around for a bit and I went into this room. The monsters in this room were a lot stronger then all the others I've seen in here. There was a lot of monsters too for that one room. It was pretty packed. But there seemed to be some monsters that followed another one around. I think it might be the one in charge here." Sumire replied with a shiver.

"Hum, I'm interested in seeing what's behind this door now. Why hasn't it come through the door to attack you?" Hotaru questioned.

"I don't know. I barely managed to get through the door and shut it before I collapsed."

"Are you sure we should check out what's inside?" Kitsuneme asked, "Will we be able to handle it?"

"Don't worry, we'll stick close to the door so we can run if anything happens." Hotaru replied.

"We should make sure we're ready first before going in. Is everyone fully rested?" Yuu asked.

Everyone nods except for Mikan. "Give me a couple of minutes to regain my spiritual energy. I can feel that it's pretty low so I won't be able to cast many spells."

Then Sumire piped up, "I can help with that! I know this dance called Gypsy's Kiss that increases the amount of spiritual energy you have and decrease the usage of spiritual energy when casting. It's similar to how bard's performances work; you have to be within a certain range for the skill to work. Please let me join you guys and help out."

Hotaru was thinking about this when Koko spoke up for her, "It'll be useful if we can use her skill. Since we only have 1 healer and Mikan is still an acolyte, her spiritual energy capacity still isn't very big and this skill can help so she can cast more spells than usual. It's actually beneficial to all of us since all our skills uses that energy. The more we can save the more skills we can use."

"Fine, just make sure you behave." Hotaru said to her.

Sumire nodded and got up off the floor. Sumire started her dance while Koko started to play his song again. Mikan started casting support spells on everyone.

Once Mikan was done, Ruka ready his bow and took aim at the door and Kitsuneme opened it.  
They slowly started to walk in the small hallway that leads to the big open room behind the door.

A monster that looked like the hydras from the previous floor started attacking them. Except the difference is, this one can move and it hurts a lot more. "Pneuma" Mikan casted as green smoke screens that went up around them. This green layer of smoke protects them from the projectile attack from the Penomena that was trying to hit them.

Hotaru started casting Storm Gust in the area around the Penomena and Yuu casted Heaven's Drive. Once Hotaru finished casting, a blizzard came down to damage and freeze everything in the target area. Multiple spikes from the ground went up and pierced the frozen and unfrozen monsters in the area as Yuu finished casting. They area spells were very effective in eliminating the group of monsters that were coming at them.

"Try to hit the monsters that do freeze as the storm stops damaging them when they're frozen." Hotaru commanded Ruka and Kitsuneme, "The undead and demon monsters don't freeze so they'll continue to take damage from the storm."

Ruka and Kitsuneme nodded and attacked the frozen monsters to unfreeze them in the storm so they will take further damage.

Once the hallway and the part of the room right behind the hallway was cleared, they decided to walk further down the hallway to have a better look at the room.

When they were at the edge of the hallway they noticed a group of monsters in the corner.

The big floating monsters that are cloaked in black showing their skeleton faces are Wraiths. The mouth in its stomach area actually opens and bites its target.  
They seem to be floating around something as if to protect it.

The mob of monsters started to float towards the group. The ones in front parted and revealed a different looking monster that was in the middle. It was a human figure, dressed in a pirate suit with a captain's hat. One of his legs was missing and replaced with a peg and he has a black bird sitting on his shoulder.

"This doesn't look good guys," Koko commented.

"Back up," Hotaru commanded as she started to cast Storm Gust again.

The storm went off and the monsters barely slowed down.

The group tried various attacks to take down the group of monsters but nothing seems to work.  
When the Wraith died, the pirate monster is able to revive them once again. It seems like an endless battle.

The group kept on backing up until they were almost at the door again.

"Acid Terror" A voice cried out as a bottle of acid was launched at the mob. "Summon Flora." A second voice called out as different flower type plants spawned around the mob and acted as a distraction.

"Hurry cast Ice Wall in between them and us and get out of this room." The first voice said.

Hotaru wasted no time and casted several Ice Walls in between them and the group ran out of the room.

"That was close." Ruka said.

"Yeah," Koko nodded in agreement.

"Lucky we heard a commotion in the room and decided to check it out. We thought it was an experience party that wanted to take on Drake." A girl with blue hair answered.

"Drake?" Mikan asked.

"Oh, Drake was the captain of this pirate ship before it crashed into the rocks close to the island due to a storm and killed everyone on the ship." The second girl with pink hair answered.

"A captain always goes down with his ship." Koko commented.

"Well this one never left his ship." Kitsuneme said dryly.

"Thanks for helping us back there by distracting the monsters." Mikan thanked them gratefully.

"By the way, I'm Mikan. And this is my best friend Hotaru and our friends Ruka, Yuu, Koko, Kitsuneme and Sumire." Mikan said as she introduced everyone.

"Hi I'm Nonoko and this is my homunculus Jello. It's a vanilmirth (vanil for short) type of homunculus." The girl with the straight blue hair replied and pointed to a cylinder looking glob that does resemble Jello in a way.

"I'm Anna and this is my homunculus Lily. It's a Lif type of homunculus" The girl with pink hair replied as her homunculus floated beside her and hugged her arm. Lily had more of a human form, her hair is made up of long green leaves and she has a white dress on that goes all the way down to her ankles. Almost reminds them of an elf that is fused with nature.

"We're alchemists." They said in sync.

"Are you guys twins?" Someone asked.

"Nope, we're not related but we've been best friends since we were in diapers." Nonoko replied.

"Aw, that's like me and Hotaru." Mikan said as she tried to hug Hotaru but fell because she dodged her hug like always.

"Once again, thanks for helping us out." Yuu said to the two alchemists.

"It's no big deal. We come here a lot to train ever since we were merchants." Nonoko replied.

"Yeah, we live in Alberta so this is the closest dungeon type of place for us to train at. So we're very familiar with this place." Anna added.

"So you guys always train with each other?" Koko asked.

"Yup!" Nonoko replied.

"We can physically fight and we have different chemical skills that aid in our fighting." Anna explained.

"On top of that, our homunculus fights along with us!" Nonoko added.

"My vanil has good physical attacks but is also able to cast offensive magic attacks. Although what type of bolt it casts is up to it so it could cast the wrong element from time to time."

"Any my Lif is is a great healer who can also do physical attacks, so it works well."

"You use chemicals such as the acid and the flowers you use back there?" Yuu asked with much interest.

"Yup, that and more. We have chemicals that can be used offensively and some can be used defensively. We also know what to do with potions so they heal more then when you normally drink them." Nonoko replied.

"Isn't it expensive to buy all those chemicals?" Hotaru asked.

"Well, we hunt for most of the materials to make them ourselves. What we can't hunt we buy." Anna replied.

"Wow, you make your own chemicals?" Mikan said with awe.

"Yup, that's what alchemist specializes in." Nonoko replies with a smile.

"I specialize in making potions. Normal potions and slim ones that are more potent and lighter to carry so you can carry more of them." Anna explained.

"And I specialize in making all the other chemicals we use. All the acids, bombs, chemical coats and summoning bottles are made by me." Nonoko added.

"Hey guys, lets get out of here before we continue talking." Koko suggested.

"Sure." Mikan replied and open up a warp portal to warp everyone back to town.

_Somewhere far away_

"Wake up you stupid brat." A cold voice commanded as he kicked the body on the floor.

The setting was very grim. The dungeon they're in was wet, cold and very dimly lit up.

You can make out a black figure laying on the ground.

"You have a new mission and you better not mess up like last time. Setting off an alarm. Tch, how amature of you. I expected a lot more from the great black cat." The voice continued.

"Now get up and get going. You wouldn't want anything to happen to that darling sister of yours now would you." He said as he dropped down a file to the figure on the floor and left the room.

The figure on the ground opened his eyes and looked at the file lying in front of him. "Aoi", he whispered as he got into a sitting position and grabbed the file.

* * *

Thanks so much for the reviews for ch 18 :):

HyuugaYingLang, suke367sahome, oObroken-wingsOo

I hope this one is ok.

YAY new chars :)

Alchemist fits their chars fairly well.

Yes, everyone is in their second class except for Mikan

Don't worry :) Soon she will get there too


	20. Christmas Special

Hey Guys,

Sorry for my late Christmas special

I tried...very hard...but the more I try, the slower it seems to get

That and my lack of sleep from real life parties and game time _

not enough time in a day :P

Sorry I really haven't been able to check over this chapter. I just really wanted to get it out before holiday feeling is gone

I hope it's ok

BTW I have made minor changes to ch 9 and 12 b/c i mentioned Cards in them

I have decided to use "Monster Essense" in replace of cards

This was my guildie's idea..which was awesome...i really liked it...so i went back to change things

so from now on...putting cards into equip is enchanting items with monster essence :P

* * *

_In Prontera field_

The sun is setting and the air is crisp. It's gotten colder since its December, but not cold enough for snow as of yet. Mikan can be seen walking back to Prontera from her garden.

When she was walking home, someone dressed in a red suit with a rather large belly crashed into her.

He snickered as he got up and ran away.

"How rude, he didn't even say sorry." Mikan muttered as she continued to walk home.

When she got home, she began to unpack her stuff only to find her diary missing.

She started to panic and turned her room upside down looking for it.

"What if I dropped it when I bumped into that person on my way home?" Mikan thought when she still couldn't find her diary.

With that thought, she ran back out into Prontera field and started searching for her diary.

Since it was dark, she used Ruwach to help illuminate the surrounding area but still searched with great difficulty under the limited lighting. In the end she went home empty handed.

_Next Morning_

"Hotaru, I lost my diary. I think I must have dropped it when I bumped into someone last night," Mikan whined to Hotaru.

"Why did you take your diary out of the house in the first place?"

"I like to write in it at the garden. I was coming home when I bumped into someone. He was very rude and dressed really weird. He was dressed all in red and had a big belly." Mikan said as she was thinking of what had transpired last night.

"Wait, you said you couldn't find your diary after bumping into him?" Hotaru asked for confirmation.

"Yup."

"Sigh, you didn't drop it. It was stolen." Hotaru told Mikan straight up.

"You probably haven't seen the notice around town." Hotaru said as she led Mikan to the closest Bulletin board in town.

"Read that notice." Hotaru told Mikan as she pointed to a Wanted notice on the board.

"Antonio, wanted for theft and impersonation of Santa Claus. Have stolen countless number of items across the country including many gifts from Santa's workshop." Mikan read, "That's horrible! If he impersonates Santa, then it will give Santa a bad name!"

"Actually, what they don't post about is how the real Santa will reward you for helping catch Antonio and returning the items. Antonio doesn't like Christmas very much and is trying to make it horrible for everyone else. He also hates Santa and wants everyone else to hate him as well which explains his get up." Hotaru explains.

"We should help catch him! Then we can return the stolen toys to Santa and everything else he stole to the rightful owners. On top of that I can get my diary back!"

"Since you bumped into him in south Prontera field, let's go check Izlude to see if anyone has seen him there." Hotaru said as they left Prontera to walk to the satellite town Izlude.

Once in Izlude, they went to the guard station and asked them about any disturbance in town last night. The guards told them about how there was a large amount of reports on stolen items, mostly Christmas presents.

"Looks like Antiono has already hit this town." Mikan commented.

"Yeah. He has two choices to go from here if he's going south. He could go to Payon or Morroc. Which one do you think he'll go to?" Hotaru asked.

"I don't know. But maybe we can ask Ruka to be on the lookout in Morroc while we go to Payon ourselves to search." Mikan said.

"But then we'll have to split the rewards with him too." Hotaru stated.

Mikan Sweatdropped, "All you care about is the reward isn't it. What about helping all those poor people that had their goods stolen?"

"It's just an added bonus that they get their items back. Receiving a reward is the most important thing." Hotaru replied.

Mikan sighed and shook her head. Then she called Ruka on her communicator, "Hey Ruka, you there?"

"Hey Mikan, what's up?"

"Have you seen the notice about Antonio stealing presents and different items from people?"

"Yeah I have. What about it?"

"Well you see, Hotaru and I want to try to catch him. He just hit Izlude last night so we think he's going south. Can you keep an eye out for him in Morroc while we go search Payon?"

"Sure thing. I'll let you know if I find anything."

"Thanks Ruka. Keep in touch." Mikan said as she closed off their communication link.

"Let's take the Karfa warp to Payon and walk from there back towards Prontera in case he's still on the road somewhere." Hotaru suggested.

"That sounds good." Mikan replied and went to the Karfa worker and paid for a warp to Payon.

In Payon they talked to different people asking about lost or stolen items. It seems like the people in town haven't had their items stolen yet so they know Antonio haven't reached this town.

As they were about to leave the town, they heard a group of people complaining about missing items.

"Excuse me, did you say you got your items stolen?" Mikan asked the adventurers.

"Yeah, we camped in one of the fields on the border of Prontera and Payon last night. When we woke up this morning a bunch of our stuff was missing." One person in the group replied.

"He stole the gift I was bringing home to my girl friend." Another member said angrily.

"Sounds like Antonio." Hotaru commented.

"Which field was this?" Mikan asked.

"The one right south of Poring Island. You can get there by going field west and another north. West of here are the War of Emperium castles of Payon."

"Cool. Thanks, we'll start going that way." Mikan replied.

"Hum, he might try to go into the Castles before coming to town. Let's go there and try to camp it out." Hotaru suggested.

"Hai," Mikan replied as they went to the Castle area.

Mikan and Hotaru decided to hang around the entrance to town from the Castle area. They hid in bushes waiting for someone to show up. They figure there's no way they'll miss him since this is the only entrance in town.

"Mikan, when he shows up, we have to knock him out fast. He can use teleport and disappear if we don't do it fast enough." Hotaru told her.

"Oh, just like my teleport skill."

"Yes, exactly like yours. He'll be able to teleport to in the near by field and we'll have to find him again. So lets not give him that opportunity."

Mikan nods in response.

_After some time_

They were getting tired of waiting for Antonio to show up. Their bodies were aching from being crouched up in their hiding positions. The bush was making them itchy. Basically they were very uncomfortable.

Mikan had just about enough and was going to stand up when they heard footsteps approaching.

Mikan quickly casted her support spells on both her and Hotaru quietly.

The glanced out of the bush to find someone completely dressed in red with a big bag on his back.

"It's him!" Mikan said quietly but with alert.

"Help me attack him too to make this fast." Hotaru commanded as she started to target him with a spell.

Mikan quickly got out of the bush and tried to ambush him. She jumped on his back and covered his mouth with her hands in an attempt to stop him from chanting the teleport spell.

"Mikan jump." Hotaru called out just as she finished casting her spell.

Mikan jumped off his back to watch him get pushed back by the force of a lightening ball. The lightening ball did major damage and knocked him right into a tree. Due to the damage he suffered from the spell and hitting his head against the tree, he slumped to the ground unconscious.

"Yes we did it!" Mikan said happily as she jumped up and down.

"Yes, but he's too heavy for us to move to the guards. Can you quickly go into town and get the guards to come get him. I'll stay watch here." Hotaru said.

"Okay." Mikan responded and ran back into town to get the gaurds.

After a few minutes Mikan came back with the guards who took Antonio into custody.

"Can you girls come with us to the command centre? We'll need to take your statements." One of the guards told the girls as the others carried Antonio's unconscious body away.

The girls nodded and followed the guards back to the command centre.

At the command centre, Mikan explained what had happen the previous night and told them how they came up with a plan to capture Antonio.

The chief thanks them and allowed Mikan to look through the bag for her diary.

While Mikan was looking for her diary, Hotaru went to collect their reward.

"Ah, yes, here's the reward for capturing him from the guards of Midgrid." The chief said as he handed her 5000 zeny. "Can you please return the gifts he stole from Santa to Santa directly? Santa wants to thank the people who have captured Antonio personally."

"That's a lot of stuff he stole. How do we know which are Santa's gift and which are the ones he stole from other people?" Hotaru asks.

"Just leave it to Santa, once he gets them all he'll be able to sort them out." The chief responded.

"Ok, but I guess we'll need some help to get all the gifts back to Santa since there's so much." Hotaru said.

"Ask someone from the merchant class to help you. Their carts can hold lots of items." The chief suggested.

"Thanks for the suggestion. One last thing, where is Santa located?"

"Go to the town of Al De Baran. Some of Santa's worker work from a building in the north east corner of that town. He can warp you to Lutie field. From there go North into the town of Lutie. Lutie's is Santa's private village. It's open to adventurers so you can visit it any time."

Hotaru nods and leaves to find Mikan.

Hotaru finds Mikan sitting in the middle of a mountain of gifts squealing happily as she holds onto her diary.

"Baka, did you get Anna and Nonoko's communicator information?" Hotaru asks.

"Yeah I did."

"Great, give them a call and see if they can help us. We need to bring all the presents to Santa and it'll be great if we can put it in their carts." Hotaru told her.

"Oh my God," Mikan screamed, "I get to see Santa?!"

"Quiet down and give the girls a call."

"Hai," Mikan responded excitedly and called the girls to explain what's happening. The girls agreed to help and warped from Alberta to Payon and meet up with them at the Guard's office.

Once they got to the office, they began to load everything into the carts. "Wow, how did he manage to steal so much stuff?" Anna asked?

"I have no idea." Hotaru responded as she helped packed the items into their cart.

"The boys said they'll meet us in Al De Baran." Mikan told them.

"I wish they'll come here to help carry some of this." Nonoko said while struggling to move her cart.

"Good thing we're taking warps all the way there." Hotaru replied.

"Ah, why don't I go to Al De Baran first to Memo and then come back and warp all of you. That way you don't have to take multiple warps to get there." Mikan suggested.

"That sounds great. Go get the memo while we finish up packing. We'll wait for you here." Anna told her.

Mikan nods and then teleports back to Prontera to use Karfa warps to get to Al De Baran.

She walks to the North East part of the town and found the workshop the chief was talking about. The memo the location and then left to go back to Payon.

"Hey guys, I got the warp." Mikan told them.

"Great, we just finished packing. We'll push the carts into the warp first before going in ourselves I guess." Nonoko suggested.

"Okay," Mikan said as she opened the warp to Al De Baran.

Anna and Nonoko pushed the carts in one by one before stepping into the warps themselves, Hotaru went into the warp after them. Then before the warp closed, Mikan stepped in herself.

_In Al De Baran_

"Hey guys," Ruka called out to them as they materialized from the warp.

"Hey, great you guys are here. Take some of the stuff out of the cart. It's actually too much for the carts to hold but we needed a way to get them all here." Mikan told them.

The guys started to take the some of the items out of the cart to load into their own bags.

Once everyone finished setting up, they asked Santa's worker to warp them to Lutie.

_In Lutie_

"Brrrr, it's cold." Anna said with a shiver.

"Look at all the pretty snow!" Mikan exclaimed as she pranced around in the field

"Mikan aren't you cold" Nonoko asked while hugging Anna for warmth.

"Um, just a little. But the snow is so pretty, I can't help but play in it. Plus running around seems to keep me warmer." Mikan replied.

"Yeah, keep moving around to keep yourself warm." Hotaru suggested while she summons a Fireball to keep herself warm.

They trudged their way across the snow heading North of where there appeared.

Mikan played with Marins along the way. Marins are monsters in the poring family that lives in the cold. They're as adorable as porings themselves but much stronger. (A/N I have a thing for porings 3 3)

They ran away from big white bears called Sasquatch. They didn't want to try to fight any of the monsters here since they were carrying so much stuff. Soon they saw the entrance into the town of Lutie.

Once they stepped passed the invisible boarder the monsters stopped trying to follow them as they were inside the town barrier. Each town has one of these magical barriers encasing the town to stop monsters from outside coming in. So even if there are no real gates into the town like Lutie, the monsters still won't get in to harm the residences.

"Ho ho ho, you must be the adventurers that captured Antonio." Santa greeted them.

Their eyes sparkled as they saw Santa coming up towards them. Mikan started to squeal in excitement.

"Are those all the gifts and such Antonio stole this year?" He asked the group.

They nodded for an answer.

"Great, here put it in this bag I have here and my workers will get started on sorting everything." He said as he handed them a red bag.

"But Santa, this bag isn't very big. How will everything fit?" Yuu asked.

"It can handle a lot more then you think." Santa replied with a smile. "How do you think I carry the billions of gifts of for the children all around the world?"

The group looked at each other trying to see if someone knew the answer.

Santa gave a small chuckle and answered, "With magic of course. This is a magic bag. It's capacity is unlimited."

Once all the gifts were inside the bag, the workers took it away.

"Let's go to my house now for a nice mug of Coco and your rewards." Santa said as he led the way through town.

"Hi Mr Snowy, how are you today?" Santa asked the snowman that was just south of the tree.

"Fine thank you. Are those new friends we have?" He asked.

The group was quite shocked to see a talking snowman.

"Yes they are, they helped capture Antonio and returned everything he has stolen!" Santa told him.

"Wow, that's great. Thanks for doing that guys. You really saved Christmas." The snowman said to them, "Why don't you swing by later after you're done with Santa? I can show you some magic tricks."

The group nodded and they continue pasted the Christmas tree further north into town.

"Here's my humble home." Santa announce when they stopped in front of a house.

They went inside and sat around the fireplace to warm up.

Mrs. Claus came and served them hot coco drinks and they thanked her.

Santa told them stories while they drank their coco and warmed up by the fireplace. Louise, one of Santa's helpers, made special Santa hats for everyone. The Santa hats are enchanted with magic so that around Christmas time, it helps increase your resistance to devil and angel monsters. Also there's a small chance that it will automatically cast blessing (a spell that Acolytes have) and heal on the wearer of the hat when they're being hit.

Everyone was having such a grand time in Lutie they lost track of time.

Before they left to go home, Santa handed them each a present.

"Thank you once again for your help for capturing Antonio. Have a Merry Christmas everyone."

With that said and done, Mikan opened a warp portal for everyone to go in. They were reluctant to leave but it's the end of the day so they had no choice.

Once they were back in Prontera, open their gifts from Santa. Everyone had received an equipment of some sort that would be useful for them.

After everyone had gone home, Mikan runs quickly to her garden. Seeing no signs of her assassin friend, she climbs up onto the tree he usually naps in. She took out a present from her bag and tied it to the trunk of the tree with a note. She hopes that he'll like the present. When she saw it in Santa's workshop she was immediately reminded of him so she asked Santa if she could have that for a friend. After some questions Santa wrapped up the gift for her and told her to take good care of him. She only wish she could see his reaction to the present. It was a Drooping Kitty, which is a black cat doll headgear. It looks like a black cat sitting on your head.

After she had secured the present to the tree, she teleported back into Prontera and went home. (A/N she has learnt to be lazy and use her teleport skill whenever she wants to return home. :P Plus, she wouldn't want to run into another thief at night again.)

* * *

Thanks so much for reviewing:

sakuraheartz, oObroken-wingsOo, HyuugaYingLang and ilovelunae (which i'm guessing is annoynomous but thanks so much for reviewing!)

Cookies for the reviewers :)

and yes now that most of the people have been introduced and everything...i can get on with getting more Natsume time in :)

YAY


	21. He's back

Hi Guys

Sorry I was in a bit of a writers block

really wasn't sure how to connect the rest of the story in.

Things should speed up a bit soon

* * *

_Somewhere in the King's Castle in Prontera_

"Damnit! They have struck again. We need to act faster! Where's your report?" An angry voice screamed.

"Here you go sir." The solider answer as he handed a file to the General.

"All these are done by them?"

"We suspect so sir. They seem to be targeting rare artifacts. All the people that have been killed are somehow linked to the artifacts that are reported missing later."

"Get our investigators to figure out what the latest victim knows about rare artifacts and try to find the other experts in that area. Set up guards to protect those people. Also, find the location of the artifact and we'll get the assassin guild to send their men for a stake out team." The General ordered.

"Yes sir." The solider saluted and left.

"Sir, the church suspects something is wrong at Mother Marthilda's and has requested our help." Tsubasa reported after the first solider left.

"What makes them think something is wrong?"

"Well recently, they started to review all the recommendations she had sent back with the novices who went to her for the Acolyte test. They noticed at the bottom for all the letters, the number "505" was written there. "505" in Alphanumeric is SOS. They think she's trying to ask for help. But since she's doing it in secret they're not sure what to do."

"Hum, I'll contact the Assassin guild to have them send someone to check out what's going on. They have stealth so they can easily check up on Mother Marthilda without being noticed. Let the church know we're working on it and we'll get back to them as soon as possible."

"Yes Sir." The solider saluted and left the room.

"Well you heard all the reports. Please report them to your guild leader so he can properly assign people."

"Yes sir." A voice spoke from the corner of the room but no one was seen.

The General took out a butterfly wing and held it out in the direction where the voice was heard. An assassin materialized and took the butterfly wing and used it to teleport back to his base.

"It's been a long day." He sighed as he took his coffee and drank it.

_At the church_

"Hi Yuki! What are you doing here today? I thought you were supposed to be at Mother Marthilda's today." Mikan said.

"Yeah, that got cancelled. Actually, everyone that was scheduled to go help Mother Marthilda's for the up coming weeks all got reassigned to do other stuff." Yuki replied.

"Hum, I wonder what's wrong." Mikan said out loud.

"Shhh, lets find another place first before we talk." Yuki said as she led Mikan to a quiet room inside the church.

"Why so secretive?" Mikan asks.

"Well, there's a rumour floating around. They think something bad has happened at Mother Marthilda's, that's why they cancelled all our assignments there."

"Something bad?" Mikan asks.

"Well, the novices they're sending there for the Acolyte test are coming back with weird messages in their letters. It seems like she's trying to ask for help through some secret signals." Yuki told her.

"If she's asking for help, why did they cancel your assignment?" Mikan asks. "She's probably just overloaded with work as usual and wants more people to go over there to help her."

"I don't know about that. If it's just work overload, you wouldn't need to send secret messages back through those letters. She can just contact us using her communicator. But apparently communication with her seems almost lost. The only thing we've been getting back from her are the letters the novices are bringing back." Yuki said, "I have a bad feeling about this. I wish I knew what was going on. Only the high ranking officials at the church seem to really know what's going on."

"I hope she's ok." Mikan said, then Yuki left for the library to report for duty and Mikan went into the city.

Mikan is happily walking around Prontera looking at the different goods the vendors were selling and accidentally bumped into someone.

"Opf," She cried as she fell onto the ground.

"You know, you should pay attention to where you're going." A voice said as he reached out to help her up.

"I'm sorry about that." Mikan apologized without looking up as she took the hand and got up.

"Don't worry about it." He replied and ruffled her hair.

Then Mikan looked up and exclaimed, "Tsubasa-senpai! What are you doing here?"

"I just came from the Castle. Going to get some lunch now. Would you like to join me?" He asks her.

"Sure!" She replied and they walked off to a nearby Café.

Over lunch they talked about lots of things. Mikan told him about all the adventures she's been on and the new friends she has made since the last time she saw him. Tsubasa listened attentively as Mikan chatted animatedly.

"So what have you been up to Tsubasa senpai?" Mikan asks him when she finally finished telling him her stories.

"Nothing as exciting as what you have been doing. The Crusader guild is very busy lately and has asked a lot of us to go back and help them. I've been assigned to help assist the Royal Guards in their investigations." Tsubasa told her.

"Wow, that's a big responsibility!" Mikan said.

"Yeah I guess it is. I wish it wasn't so busy so I have time to go do my own thing. Misaki is really busy too. The Monk Monastery is also helping the Royal Gaurds. It seems like they have asked all the guilds for assistant since the Dark Guilds are so active lately." Tsubasa said with a sigh.

"Tsubasa senpai, I'm a little confused at how this works. I thought you can do anything you want as an adventurer. Why are you getting assignments? I thought that only happens if you decide to hang around the school and work for them." Mikan said.

"Well, that's usually the case. But when things happen and it gets really busy, the guild for your specific job class can call on you for extra help. Of course you get paid for your services but it's not as fun as going exploring on your own. You don't have the freedom to do what you want. You must complete your objective. It gets stressful." Tsubasa replied.

"So does that mean when I change into a Priestess, the Church can still call on me whenever they have an assignment for me?" Mikan asks.

"Yup. That is until you join your own guild. Then all job requests will have to go through your guild." Tsubasa told her.

"My own guild?" Mikan asks.

"Yup. It's very similar to the party system. You need an emperium to apply to form a guild. When you're in a guild, you must follow their rules and listen to your guild master. All job offers will go through your guild master and they assign them to the guild members. Guilds also get to participate in War of Emperium. The weekly event where you get to battle for control over castles." Tsubasa explained to her.

"Eh?! Why would people fight for castles?! Is dying to get a castle worth it?" Mikan said.

"There are rules in War of Emperium. No one ever gets killed. There's some sort of Magic surrounding the battle field to keep everyone in line. Plus, it's really like one on one fighting matches. Except you have guild verses guilds in this case. There are many rewards when you get castles. Each castle receives prizes every day and those items are very good. Also, you get access to the underground training facility." Tsubasa told her.

"Wow, why don't you join a guild then?" Mikan asked him.

"I enjoy my freedom too much to join a specific guild. Misaki and I just want to wander around and see the world without any obligations to anyone. I guess once we're done with travelling we may join a guild. Until then I want to be free." Tsubasa told her.

"Interesting. So you also loose your freedom if you join a guild?" Mikan asks.

"Not really. I mean, you still get to do all the stuff you want. It's just that you have obligations to your guild. Especially if you're in a big and powerful guild, there might be lots of duties assigned to you. If you're in a guild that doesn't participate in War of Emperium, then there is less stuff to do. But still, it's different for everyone." Tsubasa stated.

"I guess. Well I have to worry about changing my job class first before finding a guild." Mikan said with a sigh.

"Don't worry about it too much. Enjoy your time as an Acolyte, there's no need to rush things." Tsubasa told her.

Mikan smiled at him in return then something hit her.

"Wait, so those Dark Guilds everyone has been talking about, is that the name of a Guild?" Mikan asks.

"Nope. We actually don't know the name of the Guild. We don't even know if it's one or multiple guilds that are involved in all the recent problems. That's why we refer to them as Dark Guilds. It's really just a title for the trouble maker guilds. They attract a lot of people who have evil intentions and create all sorts of trouble for the rest of the world." Tsubasa stated while silently cursing them for causing him trouble.

"Oh, I see." Mikan replied, "I hope Mother Marthilda isn't involved with something like that."

Tsubasa stiffened at the mention of Mother Marthilda, then with a serious face he asks, "What have you heard about Mother Marthilda?"

"Nothing much, just the rumours about how something might have happened and that she's trying to get help." Mikan replied.

"I see. It's getting late now; I have to get going to my next destination." Tsubasa stated as he asked the waiter for the bill. "It's nice to see you again. We should keep in touch. Call me anytime or even mail me a letter."

"I will! Thanks for inviting me to lunch." Mikan said as they left the Café and parted ways.

_Later that day_

Mikan is sitting in her garden busily trying to write in her journal before it gets too dark.

She smiles as she recalls today's event. She really enjoys her time with Tsubasa Senpai. He was really nice to her and she's really happy to have such a nice senpai.

As she was writing she sensed someone else in the garden with her.

"Come out, Neko-san." She said and an assassin appeared beside her.

"Who's this Tsubasa fellow?" He asks.

"He's my Senpai that I met when I was doing my Acolyte test." She stated, "How do you know him?"

He points to her diary.

She realized that he was reading what she was writing and got mad at him. "Hey! A dairy is a private thing! Don't read what I'm writing!" She exclaimed while she slammed her book shut and started to hit him with it.

"Hey ouch, cut that out." He said.

But Mikan wouldn't stop so he grab her wrist to stop her from hitting him.

Mikan struggled to break his hold but he was just too strong. Soon she gave up struggling and sighed.

He released her wrists when he noticed she stopped trying to break free.

"Where have you been lately? I haven't seen you around." She asked him while she took the opportunity to look at him.

She noticed that he has gotten thinner over the time they haven't met. His hair is messier then usual and his eyes are dull and reflected how tired he was.

"It's none of your business." He stated.

"Sigh, well at least you should eat properly. You got skinnier." She stated as she reached for his arm.

When she touched his arm he flinched in pain. She noticed this and sighed. "You're wounded again aren't you."

He didn't replied but sat stilled and stared at her.

She started to roll up his sleeves but he caught her hand and stopped her. "How can I tend to your wounds if you won't let me see them." She stated.

He didn't reply but didn't let go of his hands either.

She sighed again, "Fine, I won't look. But you know, heal spells can only do so much. You should really let me look at things to make sure they're healing properly." Mikan said as she started casting heal spells on him.

He grunted in response as a way to thank her.

"Hey, I should get going now. It's getting late and Ji-Chan will be wondering where I am. Will I see you again tomorrow?" She asks him as she started to gather her stuff and put them into her bag.

"Maybe, I doubt it though." He replied.

"I'll wait as long as I can." Mikan replied with a smile.

"Ja." She said then she teleported home.

"Mother Marthilda's, eh. I wonder if that's where you are Aoi. Don't worry, I'll find you." He said as he disappeared into the shadows once more.

* * *

Don don donnnnnn

What's he gonna do?!

We'll just find out in the next chapter :P

hopefully that won't be a writers block

and just a heads up...i will be writing about Mikan's changing to priest exam

just b/c she's special :)

Thanks for the reviews: HyuugaYingLan, oObroken-wingsOo, ilovelunae


	22. Rescue

HELLO

Sorry for the delayed update.

I had it written earlier this week but I wasn't able to edit etc until now.

Hope you'll enjoy it.

Yes, there's finally action in this chapter :P

* * *

In the dark of night, a lone assassin makes his way to Mother Marthilda's house in stealth.  
Her house was just north of Morroc in the dessert in a nice quiet corner.  
Once he was at the house, he surveyed the perimeter. He didn't find anything out of place so he went closer to the house and peered into the windows.

"_Kitchen is empty, study is a mess, hum...next room_." He mentally made notes to himself.  
"_There's a small glow coming from that room. I should be careful_." He thought.

It's true that no one can see him since he's cloaked, but being extra careful never hurts. He wouldn't want to do anything to alarm the priestess to cast Ruwach and reveal him.

When he looked inside he saw several children huddle in the corner. Mother Marthilda seemed to be tending to one of them.  
Then loud footsteps could be heard and the door opened.  
A knight dressed all in black armor stood there with a tray that had some bread and water on it.

"Please, you have to let me go get some herbs. She's getting really sick. I need to make some medicine for her." Mother Marthilda pleaded.

"Shut up old woman. I can't let you out. You might run to the authorities to report us." He replied rudely.

"But if I don't get her some medicine soon, she may die." Mother Marthilda pleaded again.

"Oh just can it. You're a priestess. Just cast some of your spells on her to fix her up." He retorted.

"Spells can only do so much. She needs more than that to get better."

"Just use your spells for now. We'll see how useful her dear brother is first. If he's failing his missions then there's no reason for us to keep her around anyways. Maybe she'll be the first sacrifice." He stated with a smirk and he left the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

The other children started to cry while Mother Marthilda continued to cast spells on the poor girl trying to sustain her health.

The assassin immediately took out a butterfly wing, broke it and returned back to base.

_At Prontera castle_

"And that's what happened sir." the assassin reported.

"Good job. So it seems like they're holding some hostages at her house. We must act quickly since one of the children seems to be in bad condition. Report back to your guild master and request for a team of assassins. I would like an experienced assassin cross to be the captain for this mission. Please meet me here before sunset for the briefing. I will request for support from the Prontera church." The general commanded.

"Yes sir." The assassin replied and left for base.

_Later that day ~ Mission Briefing_

"Good everyone is here. We can get started. The priests already have the warp to outside of Mother Marthilda's house. They will warp the group of assassin first to her house to scout and secure the area. Once you're with the hostages, use your communicator to let them know you're ready for them. They'll immediately warp to her house and go to your location. Escort the priests in. Once they're there, they'll commence warping out all the hostages. Hopefully they won't even notice we've been there and taken their hostages until it's too late. Are we clear?"

"Yes sir." They all replied.

"Good, then the mission commences now." The general declared.

_At Mother Marthilda's_

A lone assassin is found hovering over the sick little girl.

"Aoi, I finally found you." He whispered to himself.

Then he gently nudge her, "Wake up Aoi."

She began to stir a little. "Come on, wake up. I'm going to get you out of here." He said.

She opened her eyes a little and looked into the assassin's red eyes. "Oni-san." She whispered.

"Well well well, what do we have here." A menacing voice came from the doorway.

The assassin immediately got up and shielded Aoi from his view.

"The little kitty found the hideout here. Never would have guessed it would be so close to your home eh." A second voice mocked.

"We knew something was wrong when you haven't come back from your mission yet. With your skills it shouldn't have taken so long so we decided to check here in case you show up." Then he turned to the second figure and said, "I'll take care of this. Why don't you go grab a snack or something?"

Then the man walked out from the shadow. He is an assassin cross dressed with his uniform dyed black.

"Persona." The assassin hissed. (A/N…yeah yeah…I mean..she called him ni-san already, but I just don't wanna confirm if he's Natsume or not until later :P She's sick and just woke up! What if she's mistaken.. :P heehee)

His whole body tensed up as Persona started walking towards him and his sister.

He got into a fighting stance and readies his katars.

"You have no chance against me boy." Persona said in a voice dripping with venom.

Then the assassin charged at Persona. He swiped his katar but Persona swiftly sidestepped so it missed.

He continued to rain attacks at Persona in vein. Persona is able to dodge or block all his incoming attacks.

"Is that all you got, Kuro-Neko?" He spat.

Then Persona started to attack in return. He managed to dodge a majority of the incoming attacks but received quite a few wounds. Persona is a lot more experienced then he was in battle and it becomes quite apparent during this battle. He started to get tired and the lost of blood was starting to make him loose focus. He lost footing while he was defending himself and fell to the ground.

Persona stood towering above him, "I thought you were better than this. You know, this is exactly why you're still only an assassin. You lack the skills and experience to become a cross. You still need to get much stronger before you can transcend. But you'll never get there now." He said menacingly positioning himself for the kill.

The assassin could do nothing but look up at Persona and brace himself for impact.

Just as Persona's attack was about to hit him, a clashing sound of weapon was heard and the blow was deflected.

He blinked and looked around to see what had happened. It seems like another assassin cross had appeared and blocked the blow for him. Then several more assassins uncloaked around him.

"What's this?" Persona asked with renewed interested eyeing the new incomers.

Then a light glow of purple surrounded his body.

The new assassin cross recognized this spell and quickly ordered his men to back off.

Just as they jumped away from Persona, he unleashed a powerful attack that hits his immediate surroundings.

"Meteor Assault" he spoke in a low voice when he cast the spell.

Then the knight in black armour came in. "What's taking so long." He demanded.

Then he saw the new incomers.

"We have more company eh." He said as he drew his sword.

Then he advance forward to the group, "Lets party."

The knight rushed forward into the group of assassin and tried to bash them with his sword. The Assassins nimbly dodged his attack.

The assassin cross commanded the group through their communicator headsets, "Swift, go contact the priests and escort them in. We have to attempt to take the hostages out even if there's fighting going on. Hurry and find Mother Marthilda too, she might be locked up in another room. The rest of you, focus on the knight. I'll take care of the Assassin cross." He commanded as he readied his weapons.

The group nodded and did as they were told. Swift cloaked and left the room to contact the priests while the other assassins surrounded the knight.

The knight used this opportunity to use his Bowling Bash skills which allows him to attack the area around him in an attempt to hit all the assassins as once. Two of them were able to dodge the attack but one wasn't fast enough and received a shallow gash across her stomach. She clutched her wound and stepped back.

One of her companions went forward to attack but the knight blocked it with his sword. The other assassin took this opportunity to attack from the other side and was able to make a cut in his arm. However the knight's heavy armour protected him from sustaining major damage. The cut only caused a scratch on the knight's skin.

The knight growled as he examined the cut, "You damaged my new armour!" He shouted angrily.

In anger he used his two hand quicken skill and started to attack the assassin who damaged his armour at rapid speed. All the assassin could do was dodge the attacks to avoid getting hurt. The other assassins attacked him but just like before, the armour protect the knight from damage heavy damage.

Finally, one assassin was able to cut the armour at a junction point. Once he sliced at the welded area and cut through, the back plate fell to the ground revealing the chain mail underneath. You can see splotches of red underneath the chain mail staining his white shirt where the assassins were able to cut him thus far. "Why you!" he shouted in anger. "You guys will pay for this." He swore as he looked as the fallen piece of armour on the floor.

Across the room, the assassin crosses squared off against each other. The captain focused his energy into his weapons and used a skill called Soul Destroyer to attack from a distance. Persona could not avoid the attack and took considerable amount of damage. Persona cloaked after getting hit. The captain quickly put on his Clarivoyant Nile Rose and cast Sight. (Similar to the Ruwach Spell acolytes/priests has but this is a spell for a mage. However there are accessories that can give you ability to cast skills such as this one  )

This revealed Persona to be directly in front of him in a position to strike. The captain quickly side stepped to avoid the attack.

While all the fighting was going on, Swift had come back with the two priests and Mother Marthilda whom they found locked up in the basement.

Mother Marthilda quickly went to the children to check up on them. One of the priests cast a warp portal and assisted Mother Marthilda with getting the children into the warp. The other priest started to cast supportive spells on their party of assassins and healed their wounds. Now with the support of a priest they had the upper hand. Persona and the knight knew that they were terribly out number and without support they were in trouble. However they weren't about to let them get away so easily. Persona tried to aim a soul destroyer attack at one of the children but the Mother Marthilda quickly shoved him into the warp and took the attack. The priest that was warping helped heal Mother Marthilda and then open another warp for her and the remaining child. Mother Marthilda picked up Aoi in her arms and stepped into the warp.

Once Kuro-Neko saw his sister get into the warp, he took out a butterfly wing and crushed it in his hand. He was instantly warped out of the house.

"Mission complete, retreat back to the castle." The captain commanded once all the hostages were warped.

An assassin picked up some sand and threw it into the eyes of the knight and Persona (Sand Attack) temporarily blinding them.

The group took this chance to quickly warp back to Prontera castle.

When Persona and the knight recovered from the attack they found the room empty. The hostages were gone, the group has escaped and Kuro-Neko was missing.

Persona let out a string of curses, "He's not going to like this" he mumbled.

_Back at the castle_

The captain reported to the General what had happened.

"So when you got there, an assassin was already in the room trying to get one of the hostages out?" He asked for clarification.

"Yes sir." The captain responded

"The hostages are in the Hospital right now being treated for malnutrition and the one that was very sick is in the ICU." The priest added.

"Which hostage was the assassin trying to rescue?" The General asked.

"The girl with the short black hair. She's the one currently in the ICU." The assassin replied.

"Ok, we'll question the rest of the hostages once they're rested. We'll try to talk to the one in the ICU when she's in better condition. Please have the doctor in charge inform us right away when she's well enough to talk. She can provide us useful information."

"Yes sir." The priest answered.

"Good work everyone. I'll send a report to your guild masters. Dismissed." The General dismissed the group.

_In the garden_

Mikan woke up from her nap to find that the sun has already set. She never intended on napping but fell asleep while waiting for Neko-san to show up. She packed up her stuff and was walking out of the garden when something dripped on her face as she walked under a tree. She wiped the liquid off her face with her hand and looked at it only to find her hand smeared with something red. She brought the hand to her nose and sniffed and determined that it was blood. She immediately dropped her bag on the floor and climbed the tree.

Once she got up to the large branch, she saw the assassin lying there bleeding. He was pale from blood lost with many wounds on his body. She quickly casted heals on him to help close some of the surface wounds, however the deeper ones did not close. She continued to cast heals on him until her spiritual energy was depleted, yet it was still not enough. His skin still looked pale and clammy and he was still unconscious.

She started to cry not knowing what to do. She felt so helpless not being able to heal him. She didn't want to watch him die but her heals seem to have no effect on him.

She started to wish that she was stronger so she could help him. She thought that if she was a priestess she would be able to save him.

Then it hit her. If she can find a priest or a priestess, then he could be saved!

She quickly climbed down the tree and memo the location of the garden in her communicator.

Then she teleported back into town and ran to the church.

"Narumi Sensei!" She shouted as she ran towards him.

"Hi Mikan, why are you here so late." He asked.

"You have to help me Sensei! He's badly hurt and I can't do anything for him. I've been healing him over and over but nothing I do seems to work. Please Sensei, you have to come with me."

Narumi looked at her and assessed the situation. "I see, let's go have a look at your patient." He told her gently.

Mikan immediately opened a warp portal and he stepped in, she quickly followed behind him.

"He's up there in the tree." Mikan pointed up the tree he's at.

"Hum, I don't want to move him yet because we don't know what type of injury he has. If he has spinal injuries we can't move him. Mikan, I'm not going to fit up on that branch. I need you to go up there and examine him around the neck and head area. Remember from class, when checking for spinal injuries, try not to move him while you check for any bleeding and bruising around that area. Also feel for any irregular bumps." Narumi reminded her.

Without wasting any time, Mikan quickly climbed up the tree. She removed his headgear and gently started feeling his head to check for any injuries. After each time she touched his head, she looked at her hand to see if there's any blood. (A/N This is actually how you're suppose to check for blood when examining a person for first aid) After she's done checking, she confirmed that she couldn't find any injuries to the head and neck area. (A/N yes it's true sometimes there's injuries you can't find just like that, but to save a life is more important then not moving him….according to the life saving society) She helped lower his body slowly down the tree with Narumi catching the assassin the bottom.

Once the assassin was in Narumi's arm, he took a glance at him and immediately put him on the ground.

He took out a blue gem and started casting a spell while Mikan was climbing down the tree.

"Resurrect." He commanded once he finished casting the spell.

All the wounds on the assassin healed instantaneously, his skin was no longer the clammy and pale as it was previously.

Mikan rushed to his side and held his hand and gently called out to him, "Neko-san, wake up."

As if responding to her call, his eyes fluttered open slightly. "Polka," he whispers before passing out again.

Mikan started to panic once more but Narumi stops her.

"Don't worry. He's ok now. He just needs lots of rest to recover from all the blood he lost. I can heal his wounds and injuries and bring him back from the verge of death. But I cannot give him blood with a spell. We will need to do a blood transfusion or let him recover on his own. I doubt he'd want to go to the hospital so blood transfusion would be out of the question." Narumi informed her.

"Now, why don't we try to get him to the inn. I doubt they'll have any room left but it's worth a try." Narumi sensei suggested.

"We can bring him to my house. We have an extra guest room that no one uses." Mikan said.

"Are you sure? Won't your grandpa mind?" Narumi sensei asked.

"No he won't. He always told me to help people in need. I'm sure he'll be ok with this." Mikan replied.

Narumi nodded and picked up the assassin and walked into the warp portal Mikan opened.

* * *

HyuugaYingLan and Natsumi, thanks for the reviews 3 3

Um...there's no fighting planned for the next chapter...i hope you don't mind....

poor Natsume almost died...he can't go fight again so fast :P

Please review :)

Until next time, Bye


	23. Determination

I'm so sorry for taking so long.

I had a writers block for so long...and I didn't feel like writing...

Then 2x exp in game happened...so I was very focus on the game _

Sorry about the wait.

This one is not as exciting as the last but it's needed for story development.

enjoy

* * *

_In the Hospital_

"Thank you for your time Mother Marthilda. This will help with our investigation." Tsubasa said to her.

"Are you going to interview the children now?" She asks.

"Yes, I need to ask them some questions." Tsubasa replied.

"Is it ok to question them so soon? They're probably still recovering from the experience." She asks with concern.

"We need to question them now while the experience is fresh in their minds. We've asked the doctors for permission to talk to them and the doctors have agreed as long as we don't aggravate them." Tsubasa replied.

Mother Marthilda nodded in response.

"Well then, good day, I'll be taking my leave." Tsubasa stood up and left her room for the children's room.

Tsubasa collected information about the children's background and when they were captured. He tried to get information about their capturers from them but they didn't seem to be able to tell him much about them. They did mention something about sacrifices when they were deemed to be useless to the group. Once Tsubasa was finish with the group he headed towards the ICU to check up on the last captive.

"How's this one doing?" Tsubasa asked the nurse.

"Her conditions are stable. She's sedated right now." The nurse replied.

"Will I be able to talk to her?"

"Good luck trying. She hasn't responded to anyone here. When she talks all she does is scream for her Ni-san and everything goes out of control. That's why we had to sedate her to keep her under control." The nurse replied while giving him the go ahead to talk to her.

Tsubasa walked up to the girl's bed and found her staring up at the ceiling. He noticed her eyes were red but dull and glazed over.

Her eye colour startled him but shook it off. It reminded him of something but he couldn't quite remember what it was.

"Hello there. How are you feeling?" He asked gently.

She continued to stare at the ceiling while whispering something under her breath.

Tsubasa leaned in closer in an attempt to hear her better.

"I want my oni-san." She kept on whispering over and over.

"Who is your oni-san?" Tsubasa asks.

"Natsume-ni-san. Don't take me away from my oni-san." Tsubasa was startled once again. Natsume, that name rings a bell. It's on the tip of his tongue but he just can't remember who it is.

"Where is your oni-san?" He probes gently once again.

"I want my oni-san." She repeated as her voice started to get louder. Her eyes that were glazed became slightly clearer. He assumed the drug must have started to wear out and took a step back away from her bed.

"These bad men took me away from my ni-san. But I saw Ni-san. He said everything will be ok. Where is my Oni-san!" She started shouting and tossing around in her bed.

Two nurses came running into her room and held her down. Another nurse came and injected her with a needle and she calmed down again.

"I'm sorry but you'll have to leave now." One of the nurses said and ushered Tsubasa out while the other nurses checked up on her.

Tsubasa thanked them and left the hospital to report back to the General.

_"Natsume, where have I heard that name before? Red eyes are very rare so why do they seem familiar. I've never met anyone with red eyes myself so why does it feel like I should know who this is." _He questioned himself.

His thought process was interrupted when he saw Mikan headed his way at super speed. He waved at her and said Hi but she ran right passed him without acknowledging him.

Tsubasa scratched his head wondering what got her in a rush. _"Maybe she's rushing to a date with Ruka."_ He thought teasingly. That's when it hit him; Ruka has a friend that has red eyes!

He promised to help find his friend and his sister and they both have red eyes. If he remembered correctly, the sister was taken away before his friend disappeared. From the information he gathered from the captives, these children were all kidnapped in some fashion and used as hostages against their family. He might have found the little girl Ruka was looking for.

With that thought, he picked up his speed and rushed to the castle.

_After the report_

"And that's all the information I got from the captives at the hospital, Sir." Tsubasa reported.

"Good job Tsubasa. So you suspect that the girl in the ICU is the one your friend was looking for. Hum, let me look for that file." The General said and then rummaged around his file cabinets for the said file.

"Here's the file." He said and then opened the file to read over the results, "It seems like their house was burnt down and their parents died in that fire. The son and the daughter survived. There is no official documents issued for who is the rightful guardian of those children so what those men used to take her away must have been forged. Do not disclose any information about this case to your friend but see if he can help get her to talk. Maybe seeing a familiar face will help her mental state." The General commanded.

"Yes sir!" Tsubasa responded.

"Ok, you're dismissed. Report when you have further findings."

With that done, Tsubasa left the castle.

"Hum, I don't have Ruka's contact myself, but maybe I'll find him if I find Mikan."

Tsubasa tries to call Mikan with his communicator but had no luck reaching her. "I guess I'll try again later." He said to himself, "Better give Misaki a call before she kills me for being late."

_Mikan's side of things that happened in parallel with Tsubasa_

Mikan stayed by the assassin's side until is fever came down. Ji-Chan tried to get her to rest in her own room but she wouldn't leave his side. She ended up falling asleep by the assassin's bed side.

When she woke up this morning she nudged the assassin trying to wake him up as well. But nothing seemed to work, he stayed unconscious.

Ji-Chan brought breakfast to her and she thanked him with a small smile. "Don't worry. He seems like a tough guy, he'll be fine." Ji-Chan reassured her.

Mikan gave him another small smile and picked up her bowl of oatmeal and started eating it.

After her meal she decided to go freshen up a bit before tending to him. She didn't want to look after him when she's still groggy from sleep.

Once she was done freshening up, she filled up a bucket of water and grabbed a clean towel and brought everything to his room. Then she began to clean his wounds and change his bandages. She cast healing spells where she could to help the wounds heal faster.

After she finished tending to the assassin, she wasn't sure what else she could do but accompany him. She knew that he was unconscious but she felt that she should stay there with him.

She heard a faint knock on the door downstairs but she didn't bother going to answer it.

Then she heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

The guest room door opened, "Mi-Chan, you have a visitor." Ji-Chan announced.

Mikan looks towards the door and saw Narumi-Sensei standing there.

"Ohayo Narumi-Sensei," Mikan greeted him.

"Ohayo Mikan. How's the patient doing?" He asks.

"His fever came down this morning. I healed any wounds I could when I changed his bandages but he still hasn't woken up." Mikan told him.

Narumi nodded then went to assess the assassin. After he was done he turned to Mikan, "Don't worry, you're doing a great job. He seems to be fine. His body just needs more rest. He'll wake up, so don't worry too much."

Mikan nodded.

"Your grandpa told me that you stayed up all night looking after him. You refused to go back to your own room to sleep." Narumi-sensei commented. Mikan didn't ay anything but did't lift her eye up to meet his.

"You know, you have to take care of yourself too. If you fall ill as well, who will look after the two of you? You must remember to take care of yourself because you're the healer. If you are not well, then you won't be able to care for others." Narumi lectured Mikan.

"Yes Sensei. I'll try to get some rest." Mikan replied.

Narumi pats her on the head, "I need to go back to the church for some meetings now. If you need me, just give me a call or come find me at the church." Narumi told her and then teleported back to the church.

After Narumi-Sensei left, Mikan stayed in the room with the assassin. She stayed on the chair beside him and stared at his sleeping form. She could not believe that someone who looked so peaceful while he's sleeping could get himself into so much trouble. She let out a sigh and laid her head down on the bed. She softly talked to him and eventually fell asleep herself.

She woke up to smell the delicious aroma of food coming from downstairs. She checked on the assassin again to see how he was doing before she went downstairs to satisfy her hungry stomach.

When she got to the kitchen, she found her grandpa cooking ramen on the stovetop and found bread peco peco chops on the table already.

"That smells delicious, Ji-Chan." She told him.

"Ah you're awake. I was just about to come and get you for lunch. Grab a bowl and get some ramen. Is our guest awake?" He asks.

Mikan sighs and shakes her head.

"Don't worry, your sensei said he'll be fine. He'll wake up eventually." Ji-Chan comforted her.

"Hai," Mikan replied while putting ramen into her bowl.

"Itadakimasu" Mikan said and began eating.

She quickly scoffed down her meal since she was very hungry.

Ji-Chan sweatdropped while watching her eat. "I can cook more if you want." He stated.

Mikan shook her head, "I'm fine. I was just really hungry before and it was very good. Thanks for the meal Ji-Chan."

Mikan got up and did the dishes. While she was doing the dishes she was thinking about the assassin and her inability to help him. She was still upset with herself for being so helpless. She made up her mind and was determined to find Narumi-Sensei to help her become stronger so she would never have to watch from the sidelines again. Once she was done with all the dishes she set out to find her Ji-Chan. She found him in the garden watering the plants.

"Ji-Chan, can you look after our guest for me please. I'm going to find Narumi-Sensei at the church." Mikan told him.

Ji-Chan nods and Mikan hugs and kiss his cheeks as a thank you.

She went up to her room to grab her bag and runs out of the house to go to the church.

She was in such a rush to get to the church she didn't even see Tsubasa when she passed him on the street.

Once she got to the church she ran straight to Narumi-Sensei's office. "Narumi-Sensei!!" Mikan exclaimed once she got into his office.

"Mikan?! Is something wrong?" Narumi-Sensei asked.

"Sensei, I've been thinking about this for a long time. I don't want to be in that situation again. I don't want to be so helpless. I want to be able to help people when they're in trouble. I can't bear not being able to help when a person gets injured like that. Please Narumi-Sensei, help me become stronger." Mikan pleaded.

Narumi looks at Mikan and saw the determination in her eyes.

"I think you're finally ready to become a priestess. I'll take you to Glast Heim and we can train there until you're ready to change. It's going to be dangerous training in Glast Heim. Are you prepared for that? Are you prepared for the responsibilities that will come when you finish your training and become a priestess?" Narumi asks her.

"Yes I am." Mikan replies confidently. "I will become a priestess to help everyone in need."

"I'm glad you've finally found the correct reason to become a priestess. Come, lets go borrow some equipment and supplies and we'll be off to Glast Heim." Narumi-Sensei said as he got up and walked out the door with Mikan following close behind.

* * *

At least I know what I'll be writing about next time

I hope I find the right words for it

If I do I can get it out faster.

Hopefully in 2 weeks as I'm really busy this week :(

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS

purple-flavored-gum: I'll try to fix up Kafra _ bad habit

HyuugaYingLang: Hope this one isn't too boring :P

yuuki36 :) yup no fighting this one....who knows about next :P

oObroken-wingsOo: Thanks for always reviewing :)

XxblackwingsxX: Glad you like my story

o0fuYuHAnAsHIrAZuKI0o: I should give you cookie for reviewing. :)

Thanks everyone!!

Until next time, take care


	24. Priestess!

Here's an extra long chapter for the extra long wait :)

Sorry I've been busy playing again _

trying to 99 my wiz before dragonboat takes over again.

I should be able to write more when dragonboat season is in...i'll write it on paper on my way to practice...and type it up later :P

* * *

_Several days later near Mikan's house_

"_This is strange. Even if we don't party with each other, I'm usually able to call Mikan to talk to her. But she hasn't responded to me in days. I hope nothing bad happened to her. Maybe I'll find her if I drop by her place."_

Ruka thought while he walked towards her house.

As he was neared her house, he saw a familiar looking crusader walking towards the same destination.

When he got closer he recognized that crusader to be Mikan's senpai, Tsubasa.

"Hi Tsubasa senpai. Are you here looking for Mikan as well?" Ruka called out.

"Actually, I was trying to find her to get your contact. But since I bumped into you, I guess I don't need to find her anymore."

"What do you need me for?"

"It's about your friend." Tsubasa responded in a lower voice.

"Have you found them?" Ruka's voice full of hope.

"Actually, we might have found the girl. We're not entirely sure. We're having problems getting her to talk." Tsubasa explained while scratching his head. "Can you come with me? Maybe you will be able to identify who she is?"

"For sure!! Where is she right now?"

"She's at the hospital right now."

"Hospital?! Is she ok? What's wrong with her?"

"Her condition is stable right now but her mind is rather weak. She seems to be in a state of shock and traumatized. If she is indeed your friend's sister, maybe seeing you will help her. Are you free right now to go to the hospital?"

"Yeah sure! I was just going to see if Mikan is in but I can give her a call later. Let's go to the hospital now. I want to see if it's her."

Tsubasa nods and leads him to the hospital.

_In the hospital_

"Doctor, Ruka here may know the girl. Can we go see her? We need to confirm her identity." Tsubasa asked.

"Try not to aggravate her this time please." The doctor told them.

"We won't. Sorry about last time." Tsubasa apologized and bowed.

The doctor nodded to a nurse to lead them to her room.

The nurse walked into the girl's room with the two following behind her.

When she got in they waited at the door and she went to move the curtains around the bed aside to reveal the little girl staring emptily at the ceiling.

She gave the two a warning about causing a commotion and then left them alone in the room.

Ruka looked at Tsubasa and gave him a questioning look.

Tsubasa looked at him sheepishly and shrugged, "She was still in the state of shock the last time I tried to talk to her." He replied and started walking towards the bed.

Ruka gasped when he got a good look at the girl, "Aoi?"

"So it really is the girl you're looking for." Tsubasa commented.

"Yes, I will recognize her anywhere." Ruka replied as he studied her form while approaching her.

"What have they done to you Aoi. You're so pale and skinny now. Your eyes have lost their glow." Ruka murmured.

"She was really sick when we found her; almost dying. Her physical condition is a lot better now now, but she's still suffering heavily from trauma. Maybe a familiar face will help stabilize her condition." Tsubasa informed him.

Ruka took a moment to absorb the information. Then he nodded and gently sat himself down on the edge of the bed and called out her name softly.

"Aoi-chan, it's me Ruka."

"Ruka-ni-san?" Aoi murmured. Her crimson orbs slowly moved to the direction of his voice. Once her eyes were set on him, she stared at his face for a while for to allow her eyes to focus.

"Ruka-ni-san, is that really you?"

"Yes it's me Aoi. Don't worry, you're safe now." He took her hand and comforted her.

"Ruka-ni-san, have you seen my ni-san? I thought I saw him back in the house." She asked him weakly.

Ruka looked at Tsubasa when Aoi asked him about Natsume, he wasn't sure if he should tell her the truth because of her condition.

Understanding the situation, Tsubasa mouthed the word lie to Ruka.

"Don't worry about him Aoi. He's resting right now. Now that the doctor finally allowed us to see you, he'll be here as soon as he can." Ruka reassured her.

"Ah, I see. At least now I know he's ok. I hope to see him soon."

"I'll come with him as soon as we can." Ruka promised her and then started to gently probe about what had happened to her.

Tsubasa stood quietly behind Ruka listening to their talk, trying to pick up anything he could use.

_Meanwhile with Mikan_

"Heal!" Mikan yelled while casting heals on a Wraith that was chasing Narumi-sensei around.

After multiple heals, it stopped dead in its track, shook violently and its soul departed. Its giant dentures and black cloak fell onto the ground in a loud clash.

"Good job Mikan." He praised her while casting supportive spells on her.

"Thank you for helping me train Narumi-Sensei."

"It's my pleasure. Let me go get more monsters for you." He said and cast another spell on her. "Kyrie Eleison."

"That barrier should hold until I come back with more monsters. Remember to run and heal if something does come after you." He reminded her and left to find more monsters.

Not too long after he was gone, Narumi-Sensei called her through the communicator.

"Mikan, look on your communicator for the map and come to where I am. Both our locations should be indicated on the map. I found a stray Dark Illusion and couldn't quite bring it back to where you are. Do you see my location?"

Mikan looks at her communicator watch and scrolls through various menu items to the map option. She zooms out on the map and found where her teacher is.

"Yup, I see where you are. I'll come to you now."

"Good, there shouldn't be any monsters in between us. If there is, just run past them as fast as you can. Most of them are slow moving anyways." Narumi-Sensei instructed her.

"Ok, I'm on my way." Mikan responded then broke into a run towards Narumi Sensei.

When she got to where Narumi-Sensei was, she saw a huge monster attacking him.

The monster had a human sort of figure except its head was white like a skeleton and pointed like a cone at the top. It was wearing heavy armour and a huge cape with its collar standing up and extending up behind its head.

It was using its arms in attempts to bash Narumi-Sensei but his attacks would be block by the barrier Narumi casts. He would recast the barrier every time he feels that it is weakening and might break upon the next blow.

"Narumi-Sensei!" Mikan exclaims.

"Ah great you're here. I'll tank the monster and you can heal it. Even if it has a human figure it's still undead property." Narumi instructed her and cast Lex Aeterna on it so that the damage she'll deal will double.

Mikan kept on healing it until she was out of spiritual energy.

Narumi-Sensei cast Magnificat to help her regain spiritual energy faster.

With the help from her Sensei and lots of energy restoring drinks, she was able to kill the Dark Illusion.

Its soul left with an anguish cry and the armour that it was wearing went crashing down onto the floor of Glast Helm. The sound echoed throughout the graveyard drawing the attention of other monsters.

Slow shuffling of feet could be heard as the ghouls and wraiths gather to avenge their fallen general.

Mikan who was still trying to recover her energy by resting surveyed the area in fright. She quickly opened up her bag and pulled out a blue potion and downed the contents. Once she drank the contents she felt some of her spiritual energy returning. She could only hope that would be enough as she's running low on supplies.

Narumi-Sensei quickly cast support spells on the both of them so she could save her energy for the enemy.

A mob of wraiths and ghouls have gathered rather quickly. Mikan turns to the nearest monster and starts attacking it with her heal spell.

The Ghoul gave out one last moan as it fell onto the ground right in front of her. The barrier Narumi-Sensei kept up blocked the last attack it gave as it fell.

The non-stop coming of monsters wore Mikan down to a point that she had finished all her supplies.

Once her spiritual energy was out and supplies was gone, she gives a frantic look to Narumi-Sensei as she pulls out her mace and prepares for physical battle.

Once the Ghoul came into range she swung her mace at it hitting it in the head. It made a squishy sound when the mace came into contact with the ghoul but that did not stop it from advancing. She steps back and raises her mace again to attack the ghoul with the dent in its head, hoping to hit the same spot to do more damage. But more and more monsters closed in around her. All she could do was back towards Narumi-Sensei.

When she got closer to her teacher, she could hear him chanting something. She looks up at Narumi-Sensei and gives him a questioning look.

Narumi-Sensei winks at her as he finishes casting the spell.

He threw the blue gem and it shattered onto the ground as he called out "Sanctuary."

Green light emitted from the ground in a cross shape below Mikan.

All the monsters that had surrounded her moaned in pain and started to drop dead onto the ground.

Mikan felt her wounds healing as the green light surround her body. It felt a lot like her heal spell except this was cause by the light emitted from the ground. She took advantage of the situation and whacked the monsters that were still standing and crying in pain. She figured that she would help by dealing more damage so the monster would die faster.

The green light came one wave after another and eventually disappeared.

Once the light cleared out Narumi-Sensei assets the situation and decided to cast the spell again.

After several times, the mobs finally died and re-enforcement has stopped.

Mikan collapse onto the floor in exhaustion. She looked up at Narumi-Sensei and gave him a weak smile as she sat on the floor to rest.

Narumi-Sensei came up to her and pats her head, "You did great; you handle that situation very well." He praised her.

"Thank you Sensei. By the way, what was that spell you used?"

"Ah, that was Sanctuary, it's an area healing spell. It requires a blue gem as the catalyst. You throw the blue gem to where you are targeting and it will break. The shards on the ground will then emit the healing spell in waves." Narumi-Sensei explained.

"Cool! When do I get to learn that spell? I don't remember that from Acolyte school." Mikan asks.

"Soon. Once you take the test to turn into a priestess you can start learning new spells. That was a priest only spell. And since I don't specialize in exorcism, I'm not able to cast those types of spells like Jinno-Sensei. I can only utilize the support spells I know in ways that can kill the undead like how I did with Sanctuary."

Mikan beams him a smile, "Am I ready now to turn into a priestess?"

Narumi was about to reply but was interrupted by massive rocks hitting the ground close to them causing the ground to shake.

Both of them looked up to find many Dark Illusions surrounding another monster that looks like them but bigger and emitted a very strong dark aura.

Mikan started to shake in fright.

"Crap, Dark Lord found us. No wonder the mobs stopped. Quick Mikan, cast a warp portal to go back to the church now." He commanded Mikan and then step forward to put himself in between the Dark Lord and his minions and Mikan.

He cast Safety Wall on himself and Mikan.

"What about you?" Mikan asked since the portal will close up if the caster walks in.

"Don't worry about me. I'll come right after you leave." Narumi reassured her, "Now hurry."

Then he turned his focus to the Dark Lord in front of him and started to cast some spell Mikan didn't know.

She quickly found the blue gem from her bag and cast warp portal. She looked at Narumi-Sensei one more time who was distracting the Dark Lord for her and then stepped into the portal.

Once she was in the portal Narumi quickly used his teleport spell to teleport himself back to the church.

Mikan materialized in front of the church doors. She then looked at her communicator's party display to locate Narumi-Sensei. A wash of relief came over her as it listed him to be in Prontera. A hand landed on her shoulder and she jumped up in fright.

"Sorry if I scared you." Narumi-Sensei apologized to the jumpy Mikan.

Mikan threw herself at her sensei and hugged him. "Sensei, I was so worried about you."

"Don't worry, I'm fine. See, I'm all in one piece." Narumi-Sensei told her as he patted her back.

Mikan looks up at her sensei with tears in her eyes and nodded.

"As I was saying before we got interrupted, I think you're ready for the priest test. Would you like to take it today or another day after you have rested up?" Narumi asked her.

Her tears instantly dried up and her eyes shined with excitement.

"Really? I'm finally ready?!"

Narumi nods in reply.

"YAY." She throws her hands up in the air and cheers while jumping up and down.

Narumi chuckles at her childish actions.

"So would you like to do it today or later?" He asks again.

Mikan stops jumping around and looks at Narumi-Sensei. "I would like to do it today please."

Narumi chuckles. "Sure, why don't you go freshen up while I take care of your registration? I want you to take a quick break before you start your test."

Mikan nods in agreement and ran into the church's rest area for travellers.

Narumi follows her and walks into the church after her. He heads to the priest examination room and fills in her registration form for her.

Once he has given Mikan enough time to rest, he called her through the communicator to meet up in the examination room.

Once she arrives, he asks her if she would like assistance during the test. She shakes her head, "No, I want to do this by myself. I should be strong enough for this."

Narumi nods, "Yes you should be fine, but don't ever be afraid to ask for help. Asking for help is not a shameful thing to do. You don't have to be the best in everything." He reminded her and then handed her the form.

She took the form and gave it to Bishop Paul who is the examiner.

He looks over the form and stamps it and hits a switch on his desk.

"Please walk into that portal; it will take you to the examination rooms. Instructions will be given at each stage of the test." He told her.

Mikan takes a deep breath and walks into the portal.

Once she materialized on the other side, she found herself in a dark damp dungeon sort of room.

"_Wow, I didn't know the church had rooms like this."_ She thought to herself as she walks forward to the light.

Mikan walked through the dim hallway. When she was about midway to the other side, she heard the familiar shuffling of feet made by zombies. She turned around to find a zombie walking up to her. She quickly cast heals on it to kill it. When she turned around she found more zombies that are in between her and the end of the hallway.

She quickly disposed of all the zombies in her way and made her way to the end of the hallway and walked into the portal.

Now a new stretch of hallway was in front of her.

When she walked to a certain point, the area beside her lit up. She found a Deviruchi standing there in the middle of the spotlight.

"Hey you." It said to her.

Mikan looked at it questionably and pointed to herself.

"Yes you. What are you doing here? You don't seem very bright. You probably won't make a good priestess. You should just stop and turn back now." It said to her.

Mikan's eyes started to water at its criticism. Before the tears could fall she shook it away and her sadness was replaced by anger.

"Who are you to tell me that?! I know I'm not smart like Hotaru but I try my best and that's what Ji-Can told me that counts." She yelled back at it. "So leave me alone, I will be come a priestess."

"Suit yourself." The Deviruchi said and then it faded back into darkness.

After it faded, she continued to walk along the path only to meet another monster. Once again it tried to convince Mikan to stop and turn around now. She refused their offer and continued down the path.

When she was almost at the end another spotlight lit up. This time, it was a swordman standing there. He has blond hair and blue eyes; he was slightly transparent as well. The swordman smiled at her and then his figure started to shift.

Mikan rubbed her eyes because she thought her eyes were going blurry. When she opened them again the swordman was gone.

"Neko-san," Mikan whispered.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were still unconscious." Mikan asked him.

"No, I'm fine now thanks to you."

Mikan blushed when he thanked her. "I really didn't do anything. Narumi-Sensei was the one that saved you. I was too weak to do anything on my own." Mikan said regrettable.

"No you weren't weak. You did a great job looking after me. See I'm all better now."

"I could have saved you if I had more power. If I was a priestess I would have been able to save you." Mikan continued rambling on.

"Well since I'm all better, you don't have to become a priestess anymore."

"But you'll just get hurt again. And then I will be powerless to save you again." Mikan pointed out.

"I promise I won't do anything like that anymore. So lets go back home." The assassin replied and reached out for her hand.

Mikan looked at his hand hesitantly and slowly reached out for it.

"That's right, Mikan. Take my hand and we'll go home now." He said.

She stopped right before she touched his hand when she heard him say her name.

"You've never called me by my name before. Who are you?" Mikan questioned him.

"I'm the assassin you always met up with and helped." He replied.

"Then why would you be here. You should be at my house; Ji-Chan would never let you out. You're not him."

He smirked and his form blurred again.

"I was so close." The blurry form spoke as it took shape of the swordman once more.

"Be gone, I will not take any of your offers, Demon." Mikan announced and walked away from him. (A/N yes yes I didn't write about all the monsters and I really wanted Dopple to be the last monster she talks to instead of the second :P So change in order )

Once she walked away from him, the portal at the end of the room activated and she stepped inside.

Once again she found herself at the beginning of a long pathway.

She cast supportive spells on herself and then began to walk down the long pathway.

As she was walking zombies and mummies started to spawn behind her following her.

Seeing how the mob was getting fairly large she decided to make a run for the exit portal instead of fighting her way out.

One of the Mummy's hand narrowly missed hitting her as she ran right into the exit portal.

When she materialized on the other side she found herself back in the room with Bishop Paul.

"Great! You finished that part of the test. Please go to Sister Cecelia at the other side of the room for a brief conversation."

Mikan nodded and walked over to Sister Cecelia. Sister Cecelia talked to her about many different scenario to deal with holiness and righteousness. Mikan answer her with what she thought the best answers would be. Sister Cecelia nodded and approved of her answers.

"You will make a great priestess Mikan. I wish you the best of luck." Sister Cecelia said to her and sent her back to Bishop Paul.

Once she returned to Bishop Paul he congratulates her for her successful completion of her exam. He handed over her new uniform and a brand new Bible. He blessed her and wishes her good luck on her adventures.

Mikan rushes over to Narumi-Sensei to show him the new uniform she now clutches in her hands.

They held hands and jumped up and down squealing like little girls in celebration.

"I think you've done enough today. Why don't you rest up and we'll do your priestess training tomorrow. You deserve a good rest." Narumi suggested when they settled down.

Mikan nodded in agreement and bid him good night and walked off to her room.

* * *

YAY she's finally a priestess

Job 50 on aco is one of the most painful classes to do it on....but she did it :)

Now...next chapter will feature...Ruka...Natsume...and Mikan :)

let the love triangle begin /gg

Thank you everyone for your reviews:

oObroken-wingsOo: thanks for always reviewing, you're such a sweetie. I wish i could write more like you

HyuugaYingLan: I'm playing on the real server _ IRO Choas :) If you decide to play on the real server let me know :) .. I should really really finish 99ing my priestess....one day i will...after 99ing my sinx...and wiz.../swt too many chars...not enough time

o0fuYuHAnAsHIrAZuKI0o: YAY gives you cookies :)

yuuki36: I remember when i was an aco in GH _ so lucky I had a priest tank and mag for me 3 awesome exp

kimi-hime-chan: I'm glad you like it :) I hope I did ok this time

Please read and review :) THANKS!


	25. She's Back

Hi hi!!!!!!!

Wow I'm updating again

Not in the 1 week time that i was hoping but 2 week is still good.

I hope this is ok...it might be...slightly slower paced...but guess who's backkkkk :)

* * *

One evening, the assassin's eyes slowly fluttered opened.

He blinked several times to help his eyes focus and then he scanned the room he currently is in.

Once he determined that it seems to be safe he sat up in his bed.

He almost fell back down because of the light headedness he felt when he sat up.

He propped himself up with his arms and stayed still until the dizziness went away.

Once he felt better, he began a better examination of the room looking for clues for where he might be. He immediately ruled out the possibility of the guild base and a dungeon. So it seemed like he wasn't caught by anyone. However it doesn't seem to be the hospital either so he couldn't help but wonder where he was.

Curiosity got the best of him and he tried to get out of bed.

Once he got his feet on the ground and stood up, he collapse immediately to the floor. His legs had absolutely no strength to support him. His stomach then growled at him reminding him that it's hungry. He guessed that he has become really weak due to the lack of food when he was unconscious. He had no idea how long he was out but he figured he was about to find out when he heard footsteps outside the room.

The door opened to reveal an old man standing there. The bold man with a kind face looked at the assassin on the ground.

"Oh you're awake," He comments.

The assassin stayed silent as he watched the old man come closer to him.

"Here let me help you get back into bed. You muscles are probably weak due to the lack of food and exercise while you were unconsciously. You know, you have to keep moving to stay strong. See look at me. I exercise every day and I'm in perfect shape." The old man told the boy with pride as he helped lift the assassin back into bed.

When the assassin was back sitting in the bed his stomach growled loudly. The old man heard the growl, looked at the boy and laughed out loud. "I guess one would be hungry if they were unconscious for several days. Why don't I cook you something to eat now. Anything special you want?" He asked.

The assassin shook his head.

"Silent one aren't you." He commented, "Ok I'll go make my famous Curry Savages on rice for you to eat. I'll be back in a jiffy." (A/N Savages is a monster in game that probably resembles a wild bore (pig)  )

The assassin sat there trying to figure out what had happened.

He remembered going out on a mission and meeting the acolyte in the garden. He read her diary and found out that something fishy was going on at Mother Marthilda's so he decided to check it out.

He found his sister being held captive there along with some other children. He tried to get his sister out but was found by Persona and they fought.

Just as he was about to die someone had saved him. He remembers priests coming in to warp everyone out and then he left using a special butterfly wing. He remember making it into the garden before he collapsed. After that he couldn't remember what happened. He had no idea who saved him and where he was.

While he was trying to figure things out, the door opened again.

He could smell the delicious curry the old man made. The tray that he had brought the food on had legs on the side and is able to stand on the bed.

The food smelt delicious but the just stared at it. He wasn't sure if it would be safe to eat. For all he knew this could just be a trick set up by the guild.

The old man noticed his hesitation and spoke up, "Don't worry, it's not poisoned or anything. Try it, it's good; Mikan loves it."

The assassin tore his eyes off the food and looked at the old man when he said the name Mikan.

"Was she the one that brought me here?" He asked in a rough coarse voice. It felt rough on his throat when he spoke. He supposed that's due to the fact that he hasn't spoken for several days since he was unconscious.

"Mikan is my granddaughter. I thought you guys must have had a really horrible accident while training when she brought you home that day." He explained while smiling.

Hearing that created mixed emotions in him. He's relieved that he's somewhere safe but now he's concerned about Mikan and her grandfather's safety. He knew how much her grandfather meant to her from all the stories she had told him when they were together in the garden.

Knowing that he was in safe hands, he took the spoon and ate a mouthful of the curry rice. His mouth watered from the delicious taste and he quickly ate the rest of the food.

Ji-Chan watched him eat with delight, "That a boy. The food will help get you your strength back. You can't be weak if I'm going to let my granddaughter train with you." He said with a smile.

Once Natsume finished, he thanked him for the food and asked, "How long as I out for?"

"4 nights and 3 days." Ji-Chan replied.

"I should really get going then." He replied.

"No you shouldn't. You just woke up; you didn't even have the strength to stand up. All you should be doing is resting and eating until you're recovered." Ji-Chan scolded him as he tucked him back into bed.

The Ji-Chan muttered under his breath, "Mikan will be mad at me if you leave before she comes home." Ji-Chan didn't mean for him to hear that but Natsume's sharp hearing picked it up.

"She's missing?" He questioned.

"No, she said she was going to the church the day after she brought you home. She'll probably be home any day now." Ji-Chan told him.

He nods and starts drifting off to sleep like he was told to. He figured he'll wait for Mikan to return to make sure she is ok before he sets off again to find his sister.

The next morning passed by rather uneventfully. He woke up in the morning, went downstairs for breakfast and helped out around the house. He wanted to pay them back for helping him for the last couple of days. Once he finished helping clean up the house he took his lunch and enjoyed it out in the backyard with Ji-Chan.

Ji-Chan told him many stories of when he was younger and out adventuring. He absentmindedly answered Ji-Chan prompting him to continue his stories when necessary. In reality, as his mind is busy figuring out how to find his sister and wondering if Mikan is safe or not.

Once they finished lunch he took the dishes into the kitchen to wash them.

Ji-chan stayed in the backyard enjoying his tea until he heard a knock on the front door.

He got up and answers the door.

"Good afternoon, Ji-Chan." Ruka greeted when the door opened.

"Hi Ruka. It's been a while since you last came over. If I remember right you were still an archer last time and look at you now. Congratulations on becoming a hunter. You should come by and have some tea with this old man more often." Ji-Chan told him as he ushered him into the house.

"Thanks Ji-Chan." Ruka replied as he went into the house.

"Is Mikan around? I haven't seen her in a while and I haven't been able to reach her on communicator."

"No, she hasn't come home yet."

"Do you know where she went?"

"Well before she left she mentioned something about going to the church. I just assumed she's out training."

"Really? Who would she be training with? I contacted all our friends and none of them have been in contact with Mikan for the past couple of days. We got worried about her and since Hotaru is busy I came to check up on Mikan." Ruka explained.

"Hum, that's weird. Her communicator should always be on. Unless she's blocking calls for some odd reason." Ji-Chan thought out loud.

"I'll go make some tea for us and we can try and figure out a way to get in contact with her. I'm sure she's ok." Ji-Chan suggested and walked towards the kitchen.

"I'll help," Ruka volunteered and came into step behind him.

When they got to the kitchen, the boy looked up from the dishes at the new comers.

Ruka's eyes went wide open "Natsume?" His voice came out as a whisper when he found it.

"Oh, so that's his name. I should have really asked when he woke up." Ji-Chan said to himself.

"Natsume?!" Ruka said louder in disbelief as if he was trying to confirm that the person standing there was indeed his best friend.

Natsume just stared at Ruka in return since he did not know how to respond.

"I guess it only makes sense if you guys know each other since Mikan knows the both of you." Ji-Chan mumbled under his breath.

"What are you doing here? You know how long and hard I've been looking for you?!" Ruka managed to ask as his voice started to crack at the end.

Ji-Chan sense the tension and said, "I'll leave you boys to catch up." After that he left for the backyard once again.

"After Aoi got taken away you just left on your own without saying a word. We had no idea what happened to you. I searched long and hard and never stopped looking. And here I find you in Mikan's house?! How could she not tell me? She knew I was looking for you and said she'll help." Ruka continued to ramble on.

"It's not her fault." Natsume said quietly.

"Why would she do that to me?" Ruka quietly mumbled while shaking his head sadly.

"She doesn't know who I am. She still doesn't know." Natsume told him.

Ruka looked up at Natsume, "Then why are you here?"

"It's a long story. But basically she found me hurt in the Prontera field one day and helped heal me. After that it became a daily thing. I never told her my name, at first she tried to get it out of me but eventually she gave up and just gave me a name. She never got to see my face either since it was always covered by my mask."

"That does sound like something she would do. She's always going around helping people." Ruka thought out loud. Then he questioned, "Why are you here then?"

Natsume sighed, "The last time she saw me I was in really bad shape. She must have brought me here."

"Then where is she? I've been trying to contact her but I haven't been able to." Ruka replied.

Panic flashed through Natsume's face and then it disappeared again. "I don't know. I haven't seen her since I woke up. I was unconscious for several days." He replied as calmly as he could but on the inside he was dying to make sure Mikan is okay.

"You don't think she was captured like Aoi was, do you?" Ruka asked worriedly.

"I hope not." Natsume replied, then he realized what Ruka said. "Wait, how did you know about her being captured?"

"Right, since you've been unconscious you probably wouldn't know. Your sister is at the Hospital right now. The Prontera knights found her." Ruka answered.

Natsume sighed with relief, "Good they got her out okay." He whispered.

But that didn't escape Ruka's sharp hearing. "You were there weren't you? Aoi was asking for you. She said she thought she saw you." Ruka pushed him for an answer.

Natsume sighed, and then decided to tell Ruka what happened, "I spent a long time looking for her. But when I finally found her I got in a fight with them and got badly injured. Then other people came in with priests and got all the hostages out. I winged out immediately after I saw they took Aoi away. Is she ok?! I was going to look for her right away but I've only really recovered my strength today."

"She's a lot better now. Her physical condition is getting better and she is calmer then before. Wait so you were so injured that Mikan had to bring you here and when you woke up she was gone." Ruka concluded and Natsume nods in confirmation and relief hearing that his sister is better.

"You don't think something happened to her do you?! What if the people that took Aoi took her away? I mean, since Aoi has been rescued. What if the found you and followed her home?" Ruka asked while freaking out.

"Damn it," Natsume cursed under his breath, "That's what I was worried about all along. That's why I never told her anything about me whenever she bugged me."

Natsume ran out of the kitchen to go upstairs to the room where he was staying.

He quickly changed into his clean and patched up uniform and sprinted for the front door.

"Where are you going," Ruka cried out.

"I'll find her." Natsume replied quickly as he reached for the doorknob and opened the door.

He blindly rushed out the door only to crash into someone on the other side of the door.

His body must really have still been recovering because instead of reacting to steady himself, he just fell onto the floor on top of who ever he just crash into.

'Itai," the voice from under him whined.

The voice sounds familiar he thought as he looked down at the person.

He was greeted by the sight of familiar brown hair but instead of the usual pigtails it was left down. She had her eyes closed and her head was shaking side to side. "Pretty stars." She commented in a weak dazed voice. "Mikan?" He thought as he continued to stare at the girl below him taking in her features. He noticed that she was wearing a priestess uniform but Mikan had only been an Acolyte the last time he saw her.

"Natsume are you ok?" Ruka's voice brought him back to reality.

Natsume quickly pushed himself off the girl and called out, "Oi, get up."

That seemed to snap the girl out of her daze and she opened her eyes and looked up at where the voice came from.

Warm brown eyes stared intently into his and all muttering about pain and stars ceased.

"Neko-Chan." She whispered.

Then she snapped out of her daydream and exclaimed, "You're awake!" and launched herself at him.

"I was so worried. I felt so helpless when I couldn't heal you. Don't ever do that again." She cried into his chest.

Natsume felt a wash of relief come over him as the girl he was able to go search for is now safe in his arms. He lightly wrapped his arms around her bringing them up to their feet.

"Ahem," Ruka cleared his throat behind him to interrupt the moment.

They looked up to the source of the sound and found Ruka standing there in the doorway.

Mikan happily went over to him and greeted, "Ruka! What brings you here?!"

"Mikan?! You're a priestess now!" Ruka responded in surprised as he realize that the reason why the priestess looked so familiar is because she was Mikan.

"Yup. Do I look that different that you didn't recognize me?"

"No, well, I didn't expect to find you as a priestess. So it just sort of surprised me, that's all."

Mikan giggles and spins around to show off her new uniform. "How do I look?"

Ruka blushes and stutters, "It suits you."

"Thanks," Mikan replied brightly.

"So what is everyone doing at the door? You weren't going to leave without saying anything were you?" She accused the assassin.

"I was going to go look for you since Ruka was worried about you." He replied.

"Worried? Why were you worried Ruka."

"Well, we haven't been able to get a hold of you for a couple of days and it just seemed weird. So I thought I would come and visit to see if you were okay. Then I found Natsume here in your house. That was a surprise."

"I kind of blocked all calls when I was training with my sensei. I wanted to focus on training so I can class change faster." Mikan told him sheepishly, "Sorry if that caused you guys to worry. I'll let you guys know next time if it ever happens again so you guys won't worry. Hum, isn't Natsume the name of your friend that you were looking for?"

"Yeah, that's him right there." Ruka told her and pointed to the assassin.

"Oh." Mikan said softly.

Then something clicked in Mikan's head. "Wait, you mean Neko-Chan is the friend that you have been looking for?!" Mikan exclaimed loudly.

Ruka nods in reply. "Oh My God! I had no idea. I'm so sorry Ruka. If I knew that earlier I would have told you. I'm so sorry." Mikan said while tearing up.

Ruka patted her head, "Don't worry, it's not your fault. You didn't know who he was."

Then he turns to Natsume, "Well now that we know Mikan is ok, we should really go visit your sister. She's waiting for you to visit her. I've been making excuses for why you haven't gone to see her yet ever time I go to see her."

"Hn." Natsume replies.

"Also, Tsubasa-senpai will need to question you about what has been happening."

"I don't want to get other people involved." Natsume replied grimly.

"They can help keep Aoi safe. Isn't that important?" Ruka pointed out.

Natsume thought about that and grunted.

"Tsubasa-senpai?" Mikan asks.

"Yeah I bumped into Tsubasa-senpai on another day when I was going to look for you. Turns out he found Natsume's sister so I've been visiting her every day now."

"Ah I see. Why don't we go visit her together and then I can call Tsubasa-snepai and he can meet us there?" Mikan asked thoughtfully.

"That's a good idea." Ruka replied, "How about it, Natsume?"

"Hn."

"Alright then, lets go! Lead the way please, Ruka."

Ruka nodded and then led them to the hospital.

* * *

I hope that wasn't too ackward

I had a little trouble towards the end otmake everything flow

Please please please review

Thanks to everyone that reviewed last time:

o0fuYuHAnAsHIrAZuKI0o: The priestess test was the first class changing test I did :) I made my other second class chars at that time before they implemented quests...lol _ i've been playing for too long

yuuki36 : heehee little NxM moment there :) sorry Ruka but I'm a NxM fan heehee

oObroken-wingsOo: Hey Natsumi, I've been good. How have you been? you haven't been updating lately :(


	26. Reunited at Last

Hi guys,

Sorry for the delay. I had lots of trouble with this chapter trying to put things into words.

I hope it's ok.

* * *

_At the Hospital_

When they arrived at Aoi's room, Aoi can be seen awake and staring out her window.

The sounds of footsteps caught her attention. She turned to glance at the doorway to find out that she has visitors.

"Oni-San!" Aoi exclaimed happily as she saw Natsume.

Natsume gave her a small smile and went to her bed side. Aoi immediately wrapped her arms around him.

"I miss you so much Oni-San." Aoi told him.

"It's ok, I'm here." He replied while he patted her head.

Ruka and Mikan stayed at the doorway observing the heart warming scene in front of them.

When Aoi finally released Natsume of her hold, she noticed two other people behind her brother.

"Hi Ruka-ni-chan." Aoi greeted happily.

"How are you doing today, Aoi-chan?" Ruka asked her.

"I'm doing a lot better now. The nurses wanted to thank you for helping me improve so much. You should go see them at their office. I think they like you." Aoi said while giggling.

Ruka shivered at that thought of visiting them. Some of the nurses, especially the younger ones, acted like his fan girls back at the academy. They even tried to flirt with him while he was trying to feed Aoi when she refused to eat. "Um, tell them it's nothing. I was only doing it to help you anyways so they don't need to thank me."

Aoi giggled and asked, "Who's that with you? Is she a new nurse?" Referring to Mikan since all the nurses were either acolytes or priestess.

"Oh no, this is our friend Mikan Sakura. Mikan this is Aoi, Natsume's emoto." Ruka introduced the two.

"Hi Sakura-san. Nice to meet you." Aoi greeted her.

"Ah, Mikan is fine. Can I call you Aoi-Chan?" Mikan asked.

Aoi nodded happily.

"Oni-san, where have you been the last couple of days? Ruka said you were resting before so you couldn't visit me. Why did you have to rest? Were you hurt or something?" Aoi asked worriedly.

Natsume glared at Ruka for putting those thoughts into his sister's head while Aoi kept on pestering him for an answer.

Ruka started to sweat from Natsume's glare and gulped, "Um, I think we'll wait outside to look for Tsubasa-senpai. Why don't you two catch up? We'll come back in a bit." Ruka suggested and then grabbed Mikan's wrist and pulled her out of the room.

"Bye Ruka-ni-chan, Mikan-Chan. Come back soon." Aoi waved to him.

After the two left, Aoi asks, "Are they going out?"

Natsume's heart gave a painful squeeze at that question but shrugged non-enchantedly for an answer. "How am I supposed to know?"

"Well he's your best friend. And Ruka said she's friends with both of you. Which sort of surprised me since you guys don't have any friends that are girls. She also didn't act like your fan girls either which is rare." Aoi commented.

Aoi's questions got him thinking. She's right about the remarks about them and girls. They've never been friends with girls before since they all fan girls. But Mikan was different. She willingly became close to him and tried to become friends with him even when he covered up his face with his assassin mask and sakkat. He knew she didn't care about looks. And somehow, Ruka and him ended up getting to know her without each other knowing. Just what is she to them he was wondering to himself when Aoi started poking him for his attention.

Meanwhile, Ruka is still pulling Mikan's wrist dragging her away from the room.

"Ano, can I have my arm back please?" Mikan asked gently.

Ruka looked at his grip on her wrist and blushed furiously. He immediately let go of her hand and scratched his head sheepishly, "Sorry about that."

"It's ok." Mikan reassured him with a smile that mesmerized Ruka.

"Oh right, don't I have to call Tsubasa-senpai?" Mikan asked snapping him out of his dream state.

"That's right. Can you please call him to see if he can come to the hospital now? Let him know that we found my friend that he wants to talk to." Ruka replied.

"Sure." Mikan responded as she looked up Tsubasa's link in her communicator.

"Hey Tsubasa-Senpai. Are you there?" Mikan calls him on her communicator.

"Hey Mikan. What's up?" Tsubasa's voice could be heard

"I'm at the hospital with Ruka right now."

"The hospital?! Are you hurt? What happened?" Tsubasa asked worriedly.

"No no, I'm fine. We're visiting Aoi right now. Well actually we stepped out of the room for her to catch up with her brother." Mikan explained.

"Her brother? You found her brother?"

"Yeah it's a long story. Do you have time now to come over to the hospital? Ruka said you needed to talk with Natsume."

"Yeah, I'll be right over. Don't let him leave before I get there."

"Sure. See you soon."

"Want to go back to Aoi's room and wait for Tsubasa-senpai there?" Mikan suggested.

"But we just left them not long ago." Ruka told her.

"But I told Tsubasa-Senpai that we'll make sure he stays there until he gets here. If we don't go back then we won't know if he left or not."

"I guess, lets go back then." Ruka responded as they began to walk back to the room slowly.

Aoi and Mikan got along great. They were both happy go lucky type of people. The difference is, Mikan is dense while Aoi is much sharper about her surroundings and other people.

She could sense that there is something going on between Mikan, her brother and Ruka but they're not telling her.

She figured she'll fish it out of Mikan somehow without her knowing.

"So Mikan how did you end up being friends with these two guys. I mean they were the most unfriendliest people in novice school. Especially to girls."

"Oh, it was all by chance. I actually didn't meet them together. I met Ruka when I was sent on an assignment to Payon Caves. He was bitten by a zombie and poisoned, I found him sitting by the wall and healed him. Then we started partying together to gain battle experience and we ended up as friends. Your brother I met in Prontera field. He was badly injured and I helped him out. Then it just became a normal thing to do, not sure why but he always had some sort of injuries when I saw him. But I guess it's good practice for me. Natsume is so rude. He wouldn't tell me his name or anything. He never thanked me either for saving his life all the time. At least Ruka appreciates me."

Aoi giggles and mutters under her breath, "Probably appreciates you more then you think."

"Wow, I didn't know my brother and Ruka are so weak. They were so strong back in novice school." Aoi teased them.

"Hey, that was at the beginning. I just changed to an archer and needed practice with my bow. It's not that easy you know." Ruka defended himself while Natsume choose to stay quiet about his activities.

"It's interesting how you met both of them at different times but basically for the same reason." Aoi pointed out.

"Well, I'm an acolyte. Well now a priestess but that's besides the point. It's my job to help people and I really enjoy doing it."

"You know, I think I'll consider being an acolyte too! The nurses and doctors here were so nice to me. It's thanks to them that I got better. I want to help other people just like how they helped me." Aoi announced.

"I don't know about you being an adventurer. I think I'd rather have you safe at home. Knowing you, you'll be running into monsters head first and getting into trouble all the time. And really, how can you be an adventurer if you run away from fabres (A/N: small green caterpillar monsters, very easy to kill)." Natsume said to his sister.

"Hey! That was when I was younger. I'm sure I can fight with monsters properly if I went to novice school."

The four of them were enjoying their time talking with each other when a crusader stepped into the room.

"Hey guys." Tsubasa greeted.

Mikan immediately ran to her senpai and gave him a big hug when she saw him. She missed the frowns on the two boys' face when she hugged her senpai but Aoi noticed their facial expression and snickered.

"Hi Tsubasa senpai." Mikan greeted him, "What do you think?" She asked as she stepped back and twirled around to show him her new uniform.

"Wow, congratulations Mikan. You're a priestess now! It looks great on you." Tsubasa complemented her.

Mikan giggles in returns and thanks him.

"Although it would be better if the slits on the side of the dress was lower. I bet you get lots of attention from the guys now because it's so high." Tsubasa commented as his over protective side showed up.

"Don't worry, I wear shorts under." Mikan replied with a smile. (A/N: long ago, when the priestess character is dead on the ground…you could actually see her panties…parents complained…and they added in black shorts.) Natsume frowned even more when he realized he won't be able to make fun or her underwear anymore if she trips and falls.

Then Tsubasa looked at the rest of the group and spotted the ravine hair boy.

"You must be Hyuuga." He stated as he made eye contacts with him.

"Oh, Natsume, this is Tsubasa-Senpai, Senpai this is Natsume." Mikan introduced the two.

"What is it to you?" Natsume asked rudely.

"I need to talk to you. Why don't we take it outside?" Tsubasa suggested.

"Why would I talk to you?"

"It's about Aoi, if you know what I mean." He added the second part softly.

Natsume was hesitant but Ruka encouraged him. "You should go talk with him Natsume. He may be able to help you."

Natsume sighed, "Fine." And walked out the room swiftly.

Tsubasa nodded to the rest of them before following Natsume, leaving the room in silence.

"That was odd." Mikan piped up breaking the silence.

Aoi had a feeling what they were going to talk about. After all Tsubasa was the one that questioned her about the events that had happened. They were things that she wished to forget but she couldn't.

"Don't worry about it Mikan. Anybody want a snack?" Ruka asked while motioning the fruit basket they had brought with them.

"Sure, I would like an apple please." Aoi responded.

Ruka left the girls to chat while he went to wash the fruits.

In the meantime, Tsubasa and Natsume walk around in the hospital.

"Who exactly are you and what do you want." Natsume asked hostilely.

"Don't worry, we're the good guys. I was the one that found information about the captives in Mother Marthilda's place. I was assigned by the crusader guild to assist the Prontera knights in their investigations. Seems like they have been busy lately."

"Hn" Natsume replied but kept his alert on high.

"Ah, Misaki, that's where you went." He said as he approached a pink haired monk only to be punched by her.

"That's for taking too long." She replied.

"Gomen, gomen. I side tracked a little because I found out our little kohai is now a priestess." Tsubasa replied.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, Mikan job changed and is now a priestess."

"Oh! I have to go see her!" Misaki exclaimed as she started to go towards Aoi's room excitedly.

"Wait! Warp us to the castle first. I'll call you for the pick up since you probably want to stay here." Tsubasa requested.

"Castle? Where are you taking me?" Natsume asked with a frown. He understood that these people knew Mikan but he couldn't help but be suspicious after what he had gone through.

"To talk to the General of the Prontera knights. Don't worry, we know of your situation so you're not under arrest. We'll work something out for you but we need to find out exactly what happened from you first."

Natsume narrowed his eyes at the explanation. He didn't like the sound of that but he knew this would be his best option. He just got away from the guild and if he doesn't work with the knights then he would be running away from two different groups of people at the same time. He just didn't want to get arrested now that he's finally reunited with his sister. Everything he did was not by choice either. It was all forced.

"Ok then, lets do this." Misaki said as she opened up a warp portal for them.

"Time to go find Mikan. Call me when you're ready to come back." Misaki told them as she happily went off to find her little kohai.

"Lets go, I need to take to you see the General. We can do this the hard way or the easy way." Tsubasa said to him with a hand on his shoulder.

Since Natsume was still hesitant, Tsubasa shoved him into the portal and followed behind him before it closed.

* * *

I really hope it was ok. It was a little more slow moving.

Next chapter we will get to see more of what happened to Natsume and get more info into those guys that used him etc :)

Please review, to let me know how I'm doing.

Thanks for the reviews:

HyuugaYingLang: It's always nice to get reviews from you. I wanted to make this chapter longer with more of what happened. But I don't have the time to write that yet and I think with that included it will be too long.

Natsumi: Thanks for reviewing :) I hope school is getting better. I've seen you update a couple of your stories...don't stress too much

yuuki36: NxM is such a cute combo, sorry for RxM fans...but I guess i'm more mainstream

ooOFireKisuneOo: thanks for adding me to favourites and reviewing 3


	27. Meeting the General

Hello,

I apologize for the late update.

I've been sick and emo for a bit so I turned to reading....and devouring books _

they're awesome...but lemony _ but i really liked the books (Midnight breed series and elemental witch)

and yes...i was being emo b/c i couldn't find bio parties on RO to lvl my sinx...especially since it was 2x exp...

now that they extended the event...i hope to find some parties or else i'll go even more emo.../swt

Anywaysssss this is a...heavy in writing chapter. Hope you like it.

* * *

"Natsume Hyuuga, AKA Kuro Neko." The General greeted him once he arrived.

"You've cause quite a bit of trouble for us young man. You're accountable for quite a number of theft and killings that have happened recently. You know that the punishments for these charges are very heavy."

Natsume stiffened at the General's statement.

"But, we understand that you did not do any of these crimes on your own free will. They had your sister as a hostage and once she was freed you left right away. We're good people here. We're willing to work out a deal for you. Punishing you will get us no where since the guild that's causing the problem will just go out and find someone else they can use like you. We want to stop the problem at the source and we need your help. If you help us, we can guarantee nothing will happen to you."

"What about my sister? She'll be endangered if I help you."

"We can provide protection for her as well. Tsubasa said your sister had expressed interest in becoming an adventurer such as yourself. We can keep an eye on her at school and make sure she's safe. You won't have to worry about your sister's safety."

Natsume was still hesitant to agree to helping them, he didn't want to rely on anyone other then himself.

"This is the only way for you to keep your friends and family safe. Since you're not dead, the guild will continue to look for you. And if you give them another chance they'll take someone close to you again as hostage to make you work for them. We can make sure all your friends and family are safe if you help us. We need your help and you need us."

Natsume sighed in defeat, "What do you need my help with?"

"Excellent, I'm glad we have come to an understanding here. We need information. Even though you're not apart of the guild, you must have heard something or know something that could be useful for us. We need to know what exactly are they after. Why are they stealing those artifacts. What exactly are they trying to do?"

"I don't know. They never tell me anything about the things they get me to steal. I just get a file with the picture of the object and where it is. I'm supposed to eliminate anyone that gets in my way."

"So you don't know what or why you were stealing. What about the location of the base?"

"I was knocked out the first time I was brought there. Then I was given special butterfly wings that will teleport me directly back inside. I've never been able to actually walk out of the base. Someone warps me to cities for missions and I wing back into the building."

"Damn, they're very good at keeping this secretive. Do you know if there are anymore people like you? The ones they have forced working for them."

"Probably. I've sensed other people locked up in the dungeon room."

"Have you seen them when you were down there?"

"No, I don't get a chance to walk around if I'm down there. When I'm down there I'm usually being tortured as punishment. Trapped in my own cell with no interactions with other people other then the person who's torturing me." Natsume grimaced.

"This is difficult. We thought you must have heard something or know something that could be of use to us. But it seems like they covered their tracks really well."

Natsume thought in silent for several moments then he spoke up again.

"Well, there's this one time I heard something weird when I woke up after a torture session. There was a deep voice. It was a very dark and powerful voice that resounded through the place. I'm still not sure if I really heard it or if it was just my imagination. The voice demanded more blood, more sacrifices to be made to it. Then I heard some chanting and a piercing scream. After the scream a menacing laugh echoed throughout the place and cell seemed to vibrate from the noise. It said something about how it could feel his powers returning. Then it demanded more sacrifices to be made so it's power can be restored and it can destroy Morroc." Natsume told them his encounter with a shudder.

The General listened with a grave expression while Tsubasa paled from due to his story of his encounter.

"That was useful information. It also aligns with what the kids heard when they were held captive. Something about being sacrifices when they are of no use to the guild. So now we know that they're trying to resurrect something and they need blood. Most likely all the things they're stealing have something to do with the rituals they need to perform. And now we have a possible location where it wants to wreck havoc upon. We'll get the scholars to start looking into this at once. Tsubasa will keep you informed and we'll call upon you when we need your help." The General instructed them.

Natsume nodded.

"Even though you're under our protection now. For your own sake, try to stay concealed and out of trouble until we get a handle on the guilds. Maybe a change of hair style, color and contacts will help. We can provide you new job uniform and a disguise."

"I prefer if I didn't have to disguise myself." Natsume responded.

"Then do us a favour and stay hidden from the public. Wear a mask if you have to go out. And here's a pair of sunglasses to hide your eyes." The General handed him.

"You may leave now. We'll stay in touch." The General dismissed them.

Once outside the room Tsubasa called Misaki for pick up. Moments later the pink haired female monk appeared in front of them.

"Hey, ready to go back?" She asked them.

"Yup, warp us back to the hospital please." Tsubasa replied.

Misaki took out a blue gem and casted her spell. She crushed the gem in her hand and the shards created a portal in front of them. Natsume went in first, followed by Tsubasa then Misaki. The portal closed up after her.

"So how did it go?" Misaki asked when they appeared in the hospital.

"Ok I guess. We'll be watching them and we'll have to be extra careful from now on." Tsubasa responded.

"Will Mikan be ok?" Misaki asked worriedly.

"I don't know. If they found out he knew her they might use her against him. But if they haven't found out about their relationship, then it might be ok. It's really hard to say, but I wish they weren't dragged into this mess." Tsubasa said quietly.

Misaki nodded in acknowledgement as they continued to talk quietly following Natsume back to Aoi's room.

Aoi was pretty tired and needed rest by the time he came back. So shortly after he came back, they said their goodbyes and left the hospital so Aoi could get some rest. Mikan bid her senpais goodbye as they left to do their own thing after the hospital visit.

"So, Natsume, where are you going to go now?" Ruka asked.

Natsume stopped and thought about this for a second. He had no idea where he would go now. Since Mikan is back, he doesn't need to stay at her place anymore to wait for her return. He didn't want to bother her anymore then he did and he wanted to keep her safe.

He didn't want to go back to Ruka's place either because it might be watched by the guild. After all, that's where they went to grab his sister in the first place. He didn't have money to stay at the inn either so he really was left stranded with no where to go.

Natsume sighed, "I don't know. Maybe I'll be camping out in the forest for a while and train."

Mikan shook her head disapprovingly when she heard that. "You just recovered from your injuries; you're in no condition to train or camp out in the forest!"

"Well what else am I suppose to do. Where am I suppose to go?" Natsume said in frustration.

"You can always come back with me." Ruka said, "Mom would love to have you back, she's been really worried about you."

"I can't do that. They know you, they could be watching and waiting for my return." Natsume said softly.

Ruka knew what he was talking about so he didn't push it.

"I know! You can always stay with me." Mikan said brightly.

Natsume and Ruka stared at her in shock.

"I don't think that's such a good idea. I don't want to cause you any trouble." Natsume stated bluntly.

"It won't be any problem! You've already been there for a couple of days now!" Mikan pointed out.

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into associating yourself with me." Natsume grumbled.

"I'm sure it's ok. If you're friends with Ruka then you can't be a bad guy."

"You didn't even know my name until today." Natsume reminded her.

"But you never tried to hurt me or do anything bad to me during all the times we were together." Mikan pointed out then grumbled under her breath, "Well maybe the underwear incident but that's besides the point."

"Underwear incident?" Ruka asked and raised an eyebrow.

"Polkadots here like to show people her underwear." Natsume teased.

"No I don't! You peaked, you pervert." Mikan exclaimed while pointing a finger at him.

"You showed it to me when you tripped." Natsume countered.

Ruka then understood what had happened and decided to step in between their verbal fight as it was escalating and their yelling was attracting attention.

"Let's get back on track here. Natsume, maybe you should stay with Mikan. They don't know you were there." Ruka said.

"But that would put her in danger! Don't you understand that? They can use her just like they used Aoi." Natsume pointed out.

"What are you talking about?" Mikan asked, "Who's they?"

"No body you have to worry about." Natsume said to her coldly.

"Then maybe that's why you have to stay with her this time. You know who they are so you can keep her safe. I mean, you have already stayed with her already so she's already exposed to the danger. Ensuring her safety is probably the best thing for you can do for her now." Ruka said.

Natsume sighed defeatedly. Ruka had a point. Even if he didn't want to get her involved she already involved herself the moment she brought him into her house. Truth was she was involved even before that because of their secret meetings in the garden. Natsume just didn't want to admit it.

Natsume nodded defeatedly while Mikan jumped up and down for joy.

"Yay! Natsume will stay with me now! Lets go home." Mikan said while dragging the two boys behind her.

Ruka didn't like the idea of a boy staying with Mikan at her place even if that boy was his best friend. He gave Natsume a warning look not to hurt Mikan.

Natsume understood Ruka's glare and responded with a reassuring nod that nothing will happen to her.

* * *

Surprisingly the word count for this was rather low compare to my other chapters...even tho i thought this was alot wordier

maybe b/c it's chunks of text instead of line by line talking this time that made it feel so text heavy

but heehee Natsume is now staying with Mikan :P and Ruka is jealoussssss

What should happen next? :) I need to get the rest of her friends involved somehow...not too sure how...but i'll figure out something...

more stuff will happen with those evil people...But I gave some pretty big hints to what they're trying to do...if you play ro and kept up with recent updates you probably know what is going to happen.

Thank you people for reading and reviewing

It really helps me to see reviews so I know I should keep on writing.

HyuugaYingLang: heehee yes i'm alive...emo but alive :) but not too sure what I should write next...any suggestions?

Endless Question: Hey Natsumi....you changed your pen name? I like...just noticed that....

minori13: heehee Ruka is a really sweet nice guy...but i'm attracted to the bad ones lol


	28. DBs

I hope I made this chapter worth the wait

It's fairly long... :P

I've just been so busy with dragonboat I haven't really had time to do anything

Like I actually didn't play RO for a good 4-5 days _

Which is pretty nuts lol

Well anyways here's my next chapter...enjoy

* * *

_The Next day  
_

Since the only clothes Natsume had were his ripped up assassin's uniform, Mikan decided to take him shopping for clothes while she works on mending his uniform. He refused the offer and stated that Ji-Chan's old clothes are sufficient until his uniform is mended. However, Mikan paid no attention to what he was saying and dragged him out of the house and into the market.

Before they left the house, Natsume was able to grab a baseball cap and the sunglasses in an attempt to conceal his identity.

She dragged him into a local tailor shop who have clothes already made and does custom jobs as well.

Mikan talked about the tailor the whole time going to the shop. It seems like she has been to her shop before and loved the custom dresses she has done for her.

When they got to the shop Mikan cheerfully skipped in and greeted the owner.

Natsume looked around carefully to see if anyone has followed them before entering the shop himself.

"Hi Mikan-Chan. You're all grown up now and already into your second job class! Time flies by so fast. So how have you been?" The tailor made small talk with Mikan.

"I've been really good. I just changed into a priestess recently actually. I still have a lot to learn." Mikan said humbly.

"Well I'm sure you'll make a fine priestess." Then the tailor notice Natsume standing not too far behind Mikan. "Oh, I see you have brought your boyfriend here today."

She said as she pointed to Natsume.

Mikan blushed and denied it, "No, he's not my boyfriend. He's just a friend that I met while training."

She gave Mikan a knowing looked, winked and chuckled. "So what can I do for you two today."

"Oh, actually we're just here to look at some of the clothes you have already made. He needs some new clothes." Mikan stated.

"Ah, let's go over to my display room so he can pick out some clothes. Are you looking for anything yourself? A new dress perhaps?" She asked as she led them to the other room.

"I wasn't planning on getting anything myself today. I loved the dress you made for me last year. But now that I'm an adventurer I don't wear a lot of casual clothes. I'm in my uniform most of the time." Mikan pointed out.

"That's true. Then what about your friend? I thought he was an adventurer as well." She asked.

"Oh, I'm trying to mend his uniform right now. So I thought we could pick up some clothes for him so he doesn't have to wear Ji-Chan's clothes all the time." Mikan said with a soft laugh.

"So that's why the clothes he's wearing right now look familiar. But I haven't seen that style in a long time. Ji-Chan must have kept it after all those years. Don't worry, I'll make sure your boyfriend there will leave here with some new clothes that will look good on him." She winked at Mikan then went to Natsume and started taking his measurements.

While the tailor was taking his measurements and examining his looks, Mikan looked around in the display area. Once she made her way to the area where all the dresses were, a particular dress immediately caught her eyes. It was a white halter dress, done in the princess cut style. The dress part was tampered and was shorted in the front and longer on the sides. There are roses and vines that climbed along the hem of the dress from the edge of the tip on the side towards the middle in the front and back. She took the hanger the dress was on and examined it in awe until a loud thud distracted her.

She turned her attention towards where the noise came from and saw that the tailor had shoved Natsume into the change room and shut the door on him. She giggled at the sight and then turned back to the dress. She picked up the dress from the hanger and walked over to the change area.

"Can I try this on?" Mikan asked.

"Ah yes! It was such a pity that this pretty little dress was still sitting on the hangers. Why don't you take that change room on the left? Your friend is in this one." The tailor replied pointed to the change room Natsume is in right now.

Mikan nodded and went into the change room and changed into the dress. Once she finished changing into the dress she stepped out of her change room and walked to the mirrors. There were several full length mirrors set up so you can look at yourself from different angles. The tailor commented on how she looked in the dress while she admired it in the reflection. Just as she finished twirling around, Natsume stepped out of his change room reluctantly.

She flashed him a bright smile and looked him up and down.

"You look good in those cloths." She told him.

A faint blush appeared on his face but he quickly hid it with his bangs.

Then he walked up to her and examined her in the dress up close.

Mikan's heart started to beat faster at their closeness.

Then Natsume reached around her and pulled at her hair.

Next thing she knew, her hair spilled over her shoulders.

"You look better when you leave your hair down." He told her as he pocketed her hair bands she used for her her pig tails.

She blushed a deep red and muttered a small thanks and turned to face the mirrors again.

Mikan loved the dress so much she decided to buy it.

She changed back into her Priestess uniform and paid for her dress and Natsume's new clothes. Natsume snatched his cap and sunglasses back and put them on before stepping outside the shop.

"Why did you buy the dress anyways? When will you get a chance to wear it? Adventurers usually always wear their class uniform." Natsume pointed out.

"But it was so pretty I couldn't resist!" Mikan replied with a pout.

"What good would it do if it's just hanging in your closet?"

"If there's no reason for me to wear the dress I'll just have to create one." Mikan said then she went very quiet walking in deep thought.

All of a sudden she exclaimed loudly. "I know! Why don't we go have a picnic today in our secret garden? That would give me an opportunity to wear the dress!"

"Comon, Natsume, lets hurry back home so I can make us a picnic basket!" Mikan grabbed his hand and dragged him behind her as she started to run home.

Once they got home she ran straight to the kitchen to see what she could make for her picnic.

Natsume leisurely walked into the kitchen, "Hey, you do remember I shouldn't really be going out right now. I'm supposed to keep a low profile."

Mikan stopped looking in the fridge for a second and thought about that.

"That's ok! I can always go there first and memo the location. Then I'll warp us directly there. No one knows about the place anyways so we'll be safe." Mikan said with a bright smile.

Natsume sighed, "I don't know about this."

Mikan pouted and gave him her best puppy face look, "Please Natsume. Let's go on a picnic. I really want to have a chance to wear my new dress. Pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top." She begged him.

Natsume wanted to say no but he couldn't resist her cute puppy look.

"Plus, after I get the memo for the warp we can go to the garden any time we want! Wouldn't that be great?" Mikan added.

Natsume sighed there was no use arguing with her when she's as stubborn as he was, "Hn."

"I'll take that as a yes." Mikan said happily and turned back to the fridge and started taking food out to prepare.

Once all the food was prepared, she instructed Natsume to put everything into a picnic basket while she went to get the warp.

She cast agility up on herself and ran to south Prontera field as fast as she could.

Once she got the co-ordinates of the location, she saved it in her communicator and teleport back home.

She changed into her newly brought dress and went to the living room to find Natsume sprawled out on the couch daydreaming.

"Hey, are you ready?" Mikan asked him.

He nods in return.

"Alright then, lets go!" Mikan said happily and brought out a blue gem to cast her warp.

Natsume picked up the basket of food and stepped inside the warp, Mikan followed right after.

They appeared in the middle of their secret garden.

Mikan immediately took the basket from him and took out the blanket and spread it out on the grass.

Natsume watched her as she kneeled down on the blanket and carefully took out all the food and placed it on the blanket.

"Comon, sit down and eat." Mikan said cheerfully.

He sat down on the other side of the blanket while Mikan happily started to eat.

The picnic was a nice and relaxing way to enjoy their afternoon. Natsume leaned against the trunk of a tree and read his manga after he was done his food.

Mikan packed away the empty dishes and sat beside him.

"What are you reading?" She asked while trying to peer into his book.

"None of your business." He replied.

"Aw, comon, can't you be nice to me?" She asked with a pout.

"You've been bothering me all morning, little girl."

"Humph, I'm not little." Mikan replied.

Natsume ignored her and continued to read his book.

Mikan started to get bored with no one to talk to. Eventually her head landed on Natsume's shoulder and she drifted off into dreamland.

Natsume felt the weight of something on his shoulder and looked down. He found Mikan's sleeping and using his shoulder as her pillow.

He brushed away a lock of hair falling onto her face. His eyes roamed over her sleeping face as he caressed her softly. She looked so cute and peaceful while sleeping. His gaze was drawn to her soft pink lips as it looked so inviting to him. He blushed at his thoughts and quickly drew away his hand and stared as his manga.

He attempted to read without success because of the temptation beside him.

He gave up trying to read and decided to follow her into dreamland. Maybe their dreams will connect and he will find her there.

Natsume woke up from his nap because of loud screams.

His eyes snapped to attention for fear that he was back in the dungeon.

He looked at his surrounding to find that he was still in the garden with Mikan sleeping beside him.

More screams and shouts could be heard beyond those trees that kept this their secret place.

"Hey wake up." Natsume nudged Mikan.

"Mmm, what time is it?" Mikan asked groggily.

"I don't know. But wake up. Something is happening." Natsume said as he pushed her off of him and stood up.

Mikan rubbed her sleepy eyes and then stretched out her arms.

"That was a good nap." She commented happily but a piercing scream brought her out of her sleepy state.

"What was that?" She asked with alarm.

"I don't know, but there seems to be a commotion outside." Natsume replied.

"We should find out if anyone needs help." Mikan said as she quickly stood up.

"And do what? Don't go looking for trouble, little girl."

"I'm a priestess! I have to help people if they're in trouble." Mikan replied and started to walk past the bushes and trees that hid the garden.

Natsume muttered a curse and followed behind her. "You're not even in your uniform. People will treat you as a civilian instead. Don't get in their way." He reminded her.

"So? That doesn't mean I'm not a priestess. A doctor is still a doctor even if he's in casual clothes."

Just as she said that Mikan emerged from the trees into the open field.

Natsume quickly cloaked while following behind her.

They quickly surveyed the area.

There were a bunch of novices all unconscious on the ground.

A bunch of first class kids running around the place in panic.

The Prontera gates have been shut and the two guards that have been on duty are trying to protect the fallen from a big dark human looking figure riding on a huge black horse.

The figure was swinging his board sword down at the guards. One managed to evade the blow but the other blocked it with his shield. The impact of the sword on the shield created a dent which made the shield useless.

"What is an Abysmal Knight doing here? It should be in Glast Heim! But I still have to help them somehow." Mikan muttered to herself and started running towards the monster while casting support spells on herself. Natsume cursed and followed behind her staying in cloaked form.

Just as she got there, the monster managed to knock one of the guards onto the ground. He stared up at the monster in fear and waited for him to strike. Just when the monster's sword was inches away from his face, an invisible barrier turned green as it deflected the blow away from him. The monster gave a furious roar and looked around to see who dares interrupt him killing his prey.

The guard thanked the Gods for saving him and scrambled out of the way.

Mikan cast heals and support spells on the two guards as the one that had fallen went to help the younger kids and the other one stood behind to fight the Knight.

The monster saw Mikan and pulled the reins and directed the horse towards her. Mikan saw him coming at her and used the skill Holy Light to shoot a ball of energy at it.

Her little ball of energy didn't as much as scratch him but she did not give up.

Mikan readied herself to cast another barrier on herself as it brought it's sword down on her.

However before it's sword reached her barrier it was stopped by twin daggers. Natsume materialized in front of her and used his daggers to block the sword.

He gave out another furious roar and swung his sword again harder this time.

Natsume noticed the monster's intention and grabbed a hold of Mikan and rolled away from the attack.

Mikan cast support spells on Natsume so that he be stronger against the monster.

"Good thing I brought my daggers just in case." Natsume muttered, "Stay here and support me from a distance." He commanded Mikan.

Mikan nodded and focus her attention to support him while Natsume went back to fight the monster.

Natsume was fast and ran beside the monster and attacked it from the sides. When it turned towards the side Natsume was, he moved to its other side. He was doing really well dealing damage here and there but it aggravated the monster even more.

The monster roared and summoned two khalitzburg at it's side.

The undead soldiers attacked Natsume and slow down his movements.

Mikan focused on healing him whenever a monster was able to hit him and tried to hurt the undead monsters by healing them as well.

She managed to kill one of the khalitzburg before the other one knocked Natsume down.

"Natsume!" she cried out in alarm and cast a barrier on him just in time before the Abysmal Knight's sword hit him.

Natsume rolled away and stood up again.

Just as he was able to strike again a loud voice called out, "Storm Gust."

Immediate, harsh wind and snow came down like a blizzard attacking the two monsters.

The snow gave Natsume a chance to drive his dagger into the heart of the knight as it was badly hurt and distracted.

The knight screeched as it died and vanished on the horse along with the khalitzburg it summoned.

Mikan ran to Natsume and immediately started checking for injuries.

The wizard walked towards the two while Mikan was tending to Natsume.

"What did you think you were doing Mikan?" A voiced asked and Mikan recognized it instantly.

"Hotaru!! It was you that saved us?" Mikan asked.

"No, the tooth fairy saved you. Do you see any other wizards around here?" She said sarcastically.

Mikan looked around to find only find novices and people in their first class around here. Some acolytes have started healing the wounds of the ones that are still conscious but there were many that were unconscious on the ground.

"Thank you Hotaru! Be right back. I need to check up on all the ones that are still unconscious!" Mikan said and cast agility up on herself and ran to check on each one of the poor unconscious novices.

"Who are you and how do you know Mikan?" Hotaru eyed Natsume suspiciously.

"I don't need to answer any of your questions." Natsume replied coldly and glared at her.

Hotaru pointed her staff at Natsume in a threatening way. "You will if you know what's good for you. Why are you hanging around my best friend? Ji-Chan said she was out with someone in her favourite spot. When I got here I found you two and the Abysmal Knight. Even though you're in civilian clothes you seem like a skilled fighter, but she has never mentioned you before. Who are you?"

"You don't scare me. I can hit you and interrupt your spell before you even finish casting it." Natsume stated flatly.

"Oh, but you won't hurt Mikan's best friend would you? She would be very upset if you did that." Hotaru said with victory in her voice knowing she had the upper hand.

Natsume glared at her harder knowing that she was right.

Just as he was about to reply Mikan came back to them and launched herself at Hotaru.

"I missed you Hotaru!!" She cried.

Hotaru quickly cast Naplam Beat and the invisible balls propelled Mikan away from her.

"How many times do I have to tell you, no hugs." She reminded her coldly.

"But Hotaru! I haven't seen you in so long!" Mikan cried.

"And who's fault was that? You pulled that disappearing act last week. You know how worried I was. Then you come back apparently as a priestess and you don't even bother to come find me." Hotaru chided her.

"Sorry Hotaru. You guys were so busy previously I didn't want to bother you when I came back. I thought you would still be busy studying your new skills." Mikan said while playing with her fingers.

"Baka. Who is this guy?" Hotaru asked.

"Oh, right! Hotaru, this is Natsume. Natsume, this is my best friend Hotaru." Mikan got off the ground and introduced them.

Hotaru and Natsume continued their glaring contest as Mikan continued to talk.

"He's staying with me right now! He was injured so I couldn't exactly let him go out and continue training and staying out in fields with monsters. Plus, his sister is in the Prontera hospital. So staying with me would make it easier to visit her."

Hotaru broke off their glaring contest to look at Mikan. "He's staying with you?" She asked in disbelief. "Ji-Chan allowed it?"

"Yup!" Mikan responded happily.

Hotaru sighed.

Then she gave Natsume a don't-do-anything-to-the-baka look.

Natsume responded with a who-would-touch-her look.

"Hotaru, why did you come out to this field? You haven't come here since we were novices." Mikan asked.

"I was looking for you. Ji-Chan said you were out on a picnic at your favourite place. I didn't expect to see you throwing yourself in front of an Abysmal Knight." Hotaru said to her.

"Eh, heehee" Mikan giggled nervously.

"I couldn't help myself. When I heard that people were in trouble I just had to come help."

Hotaru sighed, "You better go home and wash your dress before the stains stay in your dress." She lectured Mikan.

"Oh no, my new dress!" Mikan exclaimed while examining the grass stains and mud on her pretty new dress that she got while fighting with the knight.

"That will teach you to go running into a fight like that. Remember, you're a priestess now. That means even more responsibility then before, so you can't just run into battle without thinking properly. What if he wasn't here to protect you? What if I didn't show up?" Hotaru asked her.

"But you did!" Mikan said cheerfully.

Hotaru glared at her for that response.

Mikan lowered her gaze onto the ground and fidgeted with her fingers, "I'm sorry. I just couldn't let anyone die. But I promise you next time I'll be more careful. I won't run blindly into battle again."

Hotaru nodded satisfied with her answer, "Comon, lets go home."

Thank you people who reviewed:

Natsumi: Thanks for always reviewing :) You were the first one for the last chapter. Good luck on your exams!

Yuuki36: Yeah...Ruka is a really nice guy...but Natsume...needs her :) Do you play RO too?

mikansumexevah: I'll try to make them a pair...I like the RxH pair too...that's why he was really looking at Hotaru when she was in the Mage uniform ~evil grins~ Must have gave him an eyeful to look at :)

minori13: I was gonna try to put Aki in...but that somehow fell apart this one...Needed to get Hotaru and Natsume to meet first...

2Lazy2MakeAnAccount: :) I was too lazy to make an account for the longest time...but a lot of people don't turn on anonymous review and i wanted to review for people. I'm glad you like my fic enough to review

o0fuYuHAnAsHIrAZuKI0o: yes there was an issue about the whole priestess dying pantie thing. But you know what's stupid, dancer/gypsys uniform are bikinis _ I think that's just as bad as the whole pantie thing. I'm glad you enjoyed the last couple of chapters.

HyuugaYingLang: I liked the DB thing alot heehee so I thought we would do it :) People don't really hang out there anymore...and now there's something called Bloody Branches that summon only boss type monster (mini and mvps) quite good if you have chars that can kill them. But really...I think it's just screwing up the RO economy even more.

And thank you people for adding this to favourite story :) It makes me really happy

Please review. I'll try to get more people together in the next chapter and get some more development going for those evil people


	29. Investigation

Hey Guys,

I have not abandoned this story.

I'm just really super busy in the summer.

Dragonboating sucks up most of my time. I didn't even get to level during exp event.

Well for most of the event I was in Vegas. But when I wasn't in Vegas I was too busy paddling.

Or I was out...

Much easier for me to read in the summer then it is to write...that and I can read at work much easier then I can write lol

I have ideas for the rest of the story. Just need to get it out...hopefully I can get more writing done next week

* * *

After the dead branch encounter in South Prontera, Hotaru would go and visit Mikan every few days.

It's probably due to the fact that Mikan hasn't been going out with them much to explore and train since Natsume was at her house. She didn't feel that it was appropriate to leave him all alone in her house while she went out. She tried to convince him to join them training on several occasions but it always failed.

Even Ruka tried to convince him to go with them. But one knowing glare from Natsume made him fall quiet. Hotaru became even more suspicious because of that and decided to go over to check up on Mikan every so often.

The only places Natsume is willing to go were the hospital and the garden. Sometimes Ruka or Tsubasa would go with Mikan and Natsume on their hospital visit but no one knew about their visits to the Garden.

Aoi's situation had greatly improved since the first time her brother decided to visit her.

She's now doing some physio to help recover any strength lost during her captivity and inactivity while she was deathly sick on the bed.

She's almost ready to be released by the hospital. Once release she will attend Novice school. Just as the General has promised, she will be looked after at Novice school so no one could kidnap her again.

All other kids rescued from the house that night have been release back to their families. The assassin guild has sent members of their guild to guard them invisibly. They were hoping that this would keep the kids safe and catch the criminals in the act if they were to come after them again.

Today, Hotaru came to visit Mikan with Yuu and Ruka. Mikan entertained them in the living room serving them tea and biscuits while they told her about their most recent training.

"You should have came with us," Yuu told her, "We could have really used a Priestess."

"You owe me 10000 zeny for making me buy all those healing supplies." Hotaru told her.

Mikan looks at Hotaru and gave her a pretend hurt look, "What am I? A giant White Potion?" (White Potions are the strongest out of all the life healing potions. Since Priestess can heal I'm basically comparing her to being a potion :P )

"Sounds about right." Hotaru replied.

"You're so mean Hotaru!!" Mikan wailed.

While they were talking in the living room, Natsume was sitting up in a tree in the backyard looking at them. How he wish he could join them and have a normal life. But because of the whole kidnapping, his life has been turned upside down. He had been forced into the job class and became an assassin. He was forced to kill and steal to protect his little sister. But no matter what the cause was for his actions, he still did the deeds. How he wish he never had to do any of that stuff.

He snapped out of his thoughts as he heard footsteps walking towards him. He glanced down below to find Tsubasa walking towards him.

"Hey," Tsubasa greeted him.

"Hn," he acknowledged the crusader.

"You need to come with me to investigate Glast Heim. There have been reports of something strange happening there. We want you to come with us to investigate with us to identify anything that might be connected to the guild."

"How the heck am I supposed to do that?"

"Well, if they've been doing their weird rituals maybe they had brought some of the artifices you have taken. We probably don't have an account of everything that has been stolen that could be link. Also, if we're very lucky, maybe someone from the guild may still be lurking around."

"I don't have equipment fit to fight in that place."

"Don't worry, we have all that taken care of."

"I guess I don't have much of a choice do I." Natsume said reluctantly.

"You do, but we're short on people right now and could really use all the help we can get. We've even been recruiting adventurers as volunteers for easier missions that doesn't need to be assign through their respective guilds." Tsubasa informed him.

"So it's just me and you then." Natsume asks.

"Misaki will come along too. It'll be better if we can get real support but her spells will be enough to make things easier. At least we don't have to pay for our own supplies so we can get more and better supplies for the trip."

"Hn."

"Alright, then lets get going. We'll go back to the castle and get you geared up and supply ourselves and head out."

Natsume didn't bother answering Tsubasa this time around. He just jumped down from the tree and walked up to him.

"Natsume!" They heard a voice call out as they were about to leave the backyard.

Natsume turned around to find the brown hair priestess standing behind the bushes.

"Where do you think you're going! You're under my care right now. You can't just leave without telling me!" Mikan exclaimed. "Tsubasa-senpai, do you really think it'll be ok for Natsume to go with you to Glast Heim right now. I mean, he just got better not long ago."

"Ah, so you heard us talking." Tsubasa commented while scratching his head.

"Um, kind of. I saw you out here so I thought I would come to say hi. I don't know what made me hide when I saw you guys talking."

"How much did you hear?" Tsubasa questioned her.

"Something about investigating Glast Heim. You're short on people right now and are recruiting. Also you don't have a healer going with you! It's just you two and Misaki senpai. Do you really think that's a good idea?! I mean that's a really dangerous place!!" Mikan kept on babbling on.

_Good, she didn't hear about the guild_ Tsubasa thought.

"Why don't I come with you as the healer?" Mikan suggested.

Natsume became a statue at that suggestion and Tsubasa hesitated to answer.

"Um, I don't know about that Mikan. Like you said, it is a dangerous place. You just changed into a priestess recently. You might need further training before you go there." Tsubasa tried to convince her not to go.

"I've already trained there as an acolyte! I'll be fine. Plus I need any extra training I can get. If Natsume is going then so will I." Mikan declared, "And even if you don't let me come with you, I'll go on my own. I have a warp to Glast Heim so I can go by myself if I wanted to."

Tsubasa sighed in defeat, "I would rather you come with us then to go alone. Who knows what you might find if you're there by yourself. Or who might find you." He muttered the last part softly so only Natsume heard.

"Then we shall come too!" Ruka spoke up as he, Hotaru and Yuu stood up from their hiding spot behind the bushes beside Mikan.

"We can help you with your investigation. It'll just be like extra training for us in Glast Heim. We're quite familiar with that place since we've trained there before." Yuu told Tsubasa.

Tsubasa sighed, "Alright, Natsume and I will go get gears and supplies. Why don't you guys get geared up and meet back here at Mikan's house. We'll warp out once everyone is properly geared and supplied."

The four of them agreed with Tsubasa's suggestion. Mikan casted Agility Up on everyone so they can get to their destinations faster.

Once everyone was properly prepared, they met up at Mikan's house.

Mikan opened up a warp to Glast Heim and everyone went in.

Once they were there, Tsubasa led the investigation. They searched various places in Glast Heim and noticed the increase in the number of monsters. They couldn't help but wonder what was disturbing the undead so much to make them so restless.

After investigating the surface area, they decided to go deeper into the basement of Glast Heim to check up on the monsters that weren't undead. As they battle their way through the graveyard area towards the door for the basement, a loud menacing voice shock the place.

"You! How dare you people disturb my domain?" The voice accused.

Mikan was the first to turn to where the voice came from and gasped.

The group had feared the worst when they first heard the voice and the gasp from Mikan just confirmed their doom.

The Dark Lord was floating towards them giving off a very dark aura. Tsubasa quickly went from his position in the front of the group to the side where the Dark Lord was coming from to shield his party.

"We're not trying to do anything. We just want to pass by." Misaki replied.

"Lairs. You're in alliance with those fools that came earlier. Thinking you can over throw the current dark lords by striking a deal with the devil himself. You really think he'll honour his side of the agreement? Foolish mortals."

"What are you talking about? I thought the only other people that were here before were the ones that reported the disturbance in the number of monsters." Yuu spoke up.

Tsubasa said nothing since he did not want them to get sucked into the Army's business.

"It's too late for lies. I shall destroy you before you can complete the deal with him." Dark Lord announced as he summoned his minions to attack.

"Everyone stay behind me." Tsubasa yelled at the group as the Dark Illusions advance towards them.

Yuu casted several firewalls in front of the Dark Illusions and Hotaru started enchanting her spell for Storm Gust.

Mikan worked hard on casting supportive spells on everyone while Natsume took care of any random monsters that got too close to the party.

The violent ice storm attacked the advancing Illusions and pushed them back a little but was not able to kill or freeze any of the Illusions. Once the storm passed, Hotaru immediately began casting again.

"At a time like this, I wish Koko was here." Yuu muttered under his breath as he casted several more firewalls to slow down the Illusions from reaching them.

"Yeah, Magic Strings would be awesome right now." Ruka agreed while he ran out to where Tsubasa was and placed traps in front of him.

Once the traps were place, they tried to fall back towards the door for the basement.

But Dark Lord noticed their motive and summoned his minions back to his side. This time, he went forward to attack the group himself.

Hotaru's Storm Gust attacked him but he was able to pass through the storm without getting knocked around like his Minions.

Once he was close enough to the group, Tsubasa rode up to him on his PecoPeco while the others attacked from a distance.

Arrows flew and magic rained down from the ski. The battle was intense and Mikan was struggling to support the group and keep Tsubasa alive.

Just as things were about to go down hill, a new voice could be heard, "Magnus Exorcismus." The area underneath Dark Lord and his minions lit up in Red similar to how Sanctuary would look like except bigger. The Dark Lord stuttered in his steps and howled in pain. At the same time, magic coming from Hotaru and Yuu rained down on the enemy as well.

"Misaki now!" Tsubasa shouted.

Misaki nodded and gathered all her spiritual into her right fist that was holding her mace. She ran straight into Dark Lord and jumped up high in the air.

"Guillotine Fist", she shouted as her mace filled with all her spiritual energy made contact with his head.

A sickening crack could be heard and the Dark Lord fell down to his knees.

"Fools. I will be back. Even the devil can't stop that from happening." Dark Lord cursed as he faded into the air.

Once he vanished into thin air, the group collectively let out the breath of air they have been holding in.

Footsteps could be heard as someone approached them.

A male priest came into view, "Are you guys alright?" He asked.

Mikan, who was busy tending to Tsubasa's wounds looked up from her job as she heard the familiar voice.

"Yes, thank you for your help." Yuu replied.

"Aki-kun?" Mikan said softly.

"Mi-Chan?" Aki questioned when he turned to face her.

"Aki-kun!!" Mikan exclaimed cheerfully and tackled him in a hug.

"Mi-Chan! When did you change into a priestess? Weren't you supposed to call me when you change so I could do the trail with you?" Aki asked while he inspected her new uniform.

"Eh, heehee" Mikan giggled with scratching her head. "I kind of changed jobs unexpectedly. I mean, I've wanted to changed for a long time but Narumi-Sensei said I wasn't ready. And when I was finally ready I got so excited and changed right away without telling anyone."

"I guess it's a good thing you're a priestess already. I don't think you guys would have lasted very long if you were still an acolyte." He commented and patted her head.

"Thanks for saving us Aki-kun!" Mikan squealed and hugged his arm.

Unknown to her, two boys in her party are glaring daggers at the poor boy while the rest of them snicker at their reaction.

"So what were you doing here?" Mikan asked.

"I was training in the previous level. I just finished mastering my new spell Magnus Exorcismus and I wanted to test it out. But while I was levelling I heard Dark Lord's voice so I decided to come check it out. I guess it's a good thing I did too. You guys looked like you were in trouble." Aki replied.

"Yeah, it seems to be more powerful and scary then the last time I saw him." Mikan commented.

"You saw it before?" Ruka asked with alarm.

"Yup. I was training here with Narumi-Sensei before I changed into a priestess. When I last saw it, it didn't speak or anything like that. And it didn't have that heavy dark aura around it. I wonder what it was talking about."

"Yes, I would like to know what I was being accused of." Hotaru added.

"Why don't we head back now? I should probably go report this incident." Tsubasa suggested.

The group nodded in agreement and Mikan opened up a portal to Prontera.

Once the group was in Prontera, Tsubasa and Misaki bid the group goodbye to go and report the incident. The rest of the group lingered around chatting away. Mikan and Aki decided to go to a near by café for dinner together so they could catch up with each other.

While Mikan was busy chatting with Aki while they walked, Natsume and Ruka silently followed behind them watching Aki's every move.

Hotaru saw this and dragged Yuu along as she smelt money in the making.

* * *

Thanks for all your support

Please review so I know someone is still reading this

I think we have a couple more chapters to go...i might be able to wrap it up soon

umesakura - thanks for reviewing and I'm glad you like the story  
yuuki36 - The Absymal Knight was summoned by a dead branch minori13 - heehee Here's Aki-kun again:)

o0fuYuHAnAsHIrAZuKI0o - I do with Dancer had more to wear...I have a Gypsy and I'm quite glad she has...well...sleeves lol  
HyuugaYingLang - Sorry it took so long..summer is busy :(  
Endless Question- Thanks for always reviewing :)


	30. Byebye Morroc

Hey guys,

I'm really sorry for the delay.

I've just been really behind in lots of things ever since the national race back in August.

It just never stops. I thought I would be able to catch up with a lot of stuff while I was on vacation but nope.

Going back to HK after 14 years means lots of things I have to do besides attending my cousin's wedding.

I was basically out every single day so I couldn't write like how I wanted to.

I'm still not 100% back into my normal schedule yet but I'll get there eventually.

Hopefully I can get back to writing this more frequently as it's almost done!

* * *

After the Glast Heim trip and the reunion, Aki was seen hanging around Mikan and the gang a lot more.

Apparently he had finished his field assignments with his mentor so he's allowed to do as he pleases until the next mission comes up. This gives him the free time to hang out with friends and catch up with them.

Of course this does not please Natsume and Ruka at all whenever they see Mikan and Aki together.

Hotaru and Koko finds their reaction very amusing and purposely invites Aki over whenever they get the chance.

If they are chilling at Mikan's house, Natsume will refuse to join them. Instead he'll hang out in the garden by himself but keeps a watchful eye on Aki.

If they decide to go out and train, Natsume has no choice but to go along with them as Mikan will drag him along whether he likes it or not. But at least this way Mikan is never alone with Aki.

Today was one of those days where the gang is hanging around Mikan's house. As usual, Natsume was hiding in the garden, sitting in the tree pretending to read his manga.

"Hey Natsume," an annoying voice called out to him.

He looked down at the unwanted visitor in annoyance. "What do you want?" He asked rudely.

"Now that's not the way to talk to your senpai." Tsubasa chuckled.

Natsume only responded with a glare.

"Anyways, we got some news. The assassin guild has made new findings. Or actually it found us. Last week they received a request for help to investigate something about ancient prophecies by a strange man, let's call him Mr R. They thought it was suspicious so they took on the case and approached it with conscious." Natsume sat up from his lazy position and looked at Tsubasa intensely as he fill him in.

"So they actually had two things going on simultaneously. They assigned Lin, an assassin cross, to help assist him and to see if any findings would be useful to us. They assigned Kidd, another assassin, to dig up information about him and kept tabs on him. Lin's search led them to Thanatos Towers. They uncover some prophecy about the devil called Satan Morroc. When Lin went to confront him, she was led into a trap. He had set her up to be used as a sacrifice to raise Satan Morroc. This whole sacrifice business sounded like what Mother Marthilda mentioned when we rescued her." Natsume's eyes narrowed at that comment.

"You mean what they wanted to do to Aoi once I was not useful to them?" Natsume said with distaste.

"It could be a possibility. Well our assassin cross was lucky because Kidd came to the rescue just in time but the Mr R fled. But now that we found the camber they were doing sacrifices in, there are plans to have that place looked at by the high priests to see if we can recast the seals to keep Satan Morroc from rising again."

"So why are you here telling me all this?" Natsume asked.

"Well, I'm one of the people that will be going to protect the high priests. The General is asking for you to come with us to see if you recognize anything when we're there. It's just to confirm that all of these events are indeed related." Tsubasa explained.

"Hn." Natsume replied.

"We will be leaving tomorrow morning at Dawn. Come to the castle beforehand and we'll get you geared up."

Natsume nodded in reply and then Tsubasa left.

The next day, Natsume shows up bright and early at the castle. Tsubasa helps him get geared up and introduced him to the rest of the Protection team.

While the team was gearing the group of priests sent for the exorcism came.

Natsume was surprised to see Aki there as he thought the church was only sending strong, experienced high priests.

"Natsume! You're here as well!" Aki exclaimed when he saw Natsume.

"What are you doing here?" Natsume grunted out unpleasantly.

"Oh, my mentor has been assigned to this mission and he got permission to bring me along to gain the experience. The church figured it should be fairly safe so I was allowed to come along." Aki explained. "That's my mentor right there, Gin." He pointed to the high priest that seemed to be instructing the other priests.

"You must be really strong to get chosen for this mission." Aki continued to babble on.

"Hn" Natsume absent-mindly replied while he focus on packing supplies.

Once everyone was ready, the priests open up several warps and everyone went in.

Once they stepped out of the warp, warm gust of wind greeted them. They walked towards the old Morroc castle which is used as the town centre. Apparently there was an entrance to this underground facility that is accessible via one of the cells in the castle.

The army has not yet explored the place to see what this facility holds. This group is only going to the ritual room that the assassin guild has reported.

As they got closer to the room, Natsume recognized the symbol branded on various objects in the place. "Yes this is their doing alright. All their members are marked with that symbol." Natsume told Tsubasa as he pointed to the symbol on the torch that lit the hallway.

"Thanks Natsume. Did you want to leave now? We don't want to get a civilian involved more then they have to." Tsubasa asked.

"I'll stay." Natsume replied firmly.

Tsubasa nodded and continued leading the group.

The ritual room sent shivers down the spines of the group. The room was lit with red candles and the sacrificial altar is there in the middle. You could see the ground stained red with blood and the smell of blood is still there.

"Let's get to work," Gin commanded the group of priest.

The priests surrounded the altar and started to set up to perform a sealing ceremony.

Once they were ready, all the priests started to chant together. Everything was going as planned but then one of the blue gems being used started to glow red instead of blue.

One of the wizards beside Tsubasa noticed this and shouted, "Stop!! There is a bad catalyst! Someone is trying to sabotage us!"

The priests immediately stopped chanting.

Gin starts laughing, "It's too late now!" He exclaimed and grabbed the priest to his right and slashed his throat and threw him on top of the gems on the altar.

He said some words in Latin and the gems beneath the dead priest turned to dust and glowed red.

"Stop him!" Someone in the melee group yelled.

Several knights charged towards him. But before they could reach him, everyone heard a loud cracking sound. Then the altar exploded sending rocks flying in all directions inside the room.

A deep evil laugh filled the room, "It is now complete. The seals cannot hold me any longer."

Red light suddenly shone out from the hole the altar has left, "My time has come again." The voice said.

The black light mixed in with the red that was shining out from the hole. An overwhelming dark power was felt. The power had a crushing effect on everyone in the room.

"Priests, warp out!" Tsubasa commanded.

"Hurry! Now!"

The priests quickly casted warps around the room and the party got in as fast as they could.

A knight tried to grab Gin before stepping into the portal but the black light surrounded Gin just as he was about to get a hold of him.

"You have served me well."

Gin smirked, as he thought that he was being protected by his master.

"Now, serve as my strength."

Gin's smirk immediately disappeared and was replaced by a panic looked.

He felt the immense pressure around him starting to crush him.

"Master! Why?!"

"Foolish human. Now that the seals are gone, the best way you can serve me is to make me stronger. Now die."

The black light picked up Gin from his spot and sucked him into the hole.

"Noooooooooooooooo." Gin screamed as he was dragged in.

"Actually, all of you can serve as my strength!" The voice laughed manicingly and strong wind started to suck everything into the hole just like what a black hole would do.

The rest of the party hurried into the warps before they were dragged as well.

"Pity they got away. No matter, there is more blood to be spilt. Now let me get out of this hell they sealed me in."

After that the wind reversed it's direction. The air started to heat up and then a huge explosion erupted in the middle of Morroc. The explosion levelled the castle and caused lots of damage to the surrounding buildings. What use to be a castle is now just a huge gorge.

Many people were hurt or killed when the explosion happened. But before anyone could react to the explosion, Satan Morroc came out of the gorge along with his minions from the other dimension where he was sealed.

Any people in town that were further away from the explosion fled as fast as they could.

They couldn't even turn back to help those that were closer to the centre of the city as the minions went wild killing everything in sight.

There was no mercy from the minions. Any living creature in sight whether it's human or animal was killed on sight.

The only thing the people of Morroc could do was flee from the city and pray that the monsters don't follow them if they're far enough.

By this time, the General and the church has been informed of Gin's betrayal and the release of the devil. They began immediate action, rounding up as many resources as possible. Rerouting and gathering people who are off on their current mission to go and help contain Satan Morroc.

Every available hand was called, soldiers and experienced adventurers alike were gathered at Prontera castle. Everyone was brief on what was happening and then sent off to outside the town of Morroc to receive further instructions by the Majors that were already dispatched.

"Natsume, go to Mikan. Make sure she doesn't try to come. She's still too young and not yet experienced enough." Tsubasa commanded him while he resupplies himself.

Natsume nodded and ran as fast as he could to go home. On the way out he saw a shell shocked Aki sitting against the castle wall.

Natsume can hear him muttering, "This is not happening," over and over again.

"Hey, snap out of it." Natsume slapped Aki across the face.

Aki's eyes focused on Natsume, "What's happening? Where's Gin? Is this real? I'm so confused!"

"He was lying all along. Now snap out of it. Do you have a warp to Mikan's house?" Natsume asked him.

Aki nodded weakly.

"Warp me now." Natsume commanded.

Natsume stepped into the warp and pulled Aki in behind him.

"Natsume!! I've been looking for you all day!" Mikan exclaimed.

"I woke up this morning and you were gone! I thought you left me without telling me! Do you know how worried I was?" Mikan yelled at him.

"You're not my mother, I don't need to tell you when I have to go out." Natsume retorted.

"You're unbelievable." Mikan said frustratedly, "And to think I was worried about you."

"Aki?! What's wrong? Did something happen? Why does Aki look like that?" Mikan asked when she spotted Aki looking so out of it.

"Something happened to his mentor and he was there and watched it." Natsume explained.

"I need you to watch him and tell me if he does or say anything weird."

"Okay." Mikan replied and took a hold of Aki's arm and led him into the house.

Natsume never liked the idea of Aki being close to Mikan but now knowing his mentor was apart of that guild makes him even dislike this situation even more.

He doesn't know if Aki is really truly innocent in all of this or if he's just a really good actor. But if Mikan is busy watching after Aki, then she won't be able to join the battle in Morroc. He would just have to be extra watchful while Aki is around.

* * *

I actually wanted to put the battle scenes in here but I guess I'll leave that for the next chapter.

Still haven't refined those scenes.

Would you guys like a more detail battle scene? Or we don't need that much action?

Thanks for still reading this!!! I promise you I'll finish this story!!!


	31. Where's Ruka!

Hi Hi!

I was hoping to get this up earlier but I was a bit busier and lazier over the holidays then expected. lol

But at least I got lots of ideas over the holidays so I was able to write this :)

I got a bit of the next chapter done too. So hopefully won't take too long. Then again....I got busy again and it took me 2 days to find enough time to edit this.

Oh well. Hope you like this one.

* * *

_Back to the situation outside of Morroc_

Many people have gathered in the refugee area.

Each class went to their area and were given instructions for the battle field.

It was decided that the Assassin crosses, Paladins and Lord Knights will be at the front of the battle field as they are the most experience of the close combat type classes. They will be the first wave of offence.

Their non-transcendent counterparts, the Assassins, Crusaders and Knights, will follow behind them acting as support.

The Snipers and High Wizards were in charge of providing range support to those in the front line while their corresponding non-transcendent class provided backup and provided defence on all sides.

High Priests were scattered throughout the front line with the melee classes while the rest of the priests stayed with the ranged classes and provided support from a distance.

Bards and dancers will stay close to magic classes to help boost their magical powers while Minstral and Gypsies (Advance classes of bards and dancers) can wander around the battle field with the others as they have stronger offensive attacks that will allow them to defend themselves properly.

As for the rest of the classes, all non-transcendent classes were ordered to stay with the ranged group and provide support from there while their transcendent counter parts played a role up in the front. Whether it's a biochemist throwing acid bombs on the enemy or a Champion battling head on with the monsters. Everyone had a role to play.

The battle was intense as Satan Morroc's minions were very strong. The world has never seen such monsters and it took a while to figure out how to kill them. They even proved to be difficult for the most experienced fighters.

However, with the forces working together, they were able to kill many of the minions and started pushing them out of the ruined town.

Eventually the battle was pushed to the fields East of Morroc. The moment all the monsters as well as Satan Morroc himself were pushed outside the town, priests started casting seals to keep the monsters out of the town.

Once the seals were placed, the guards set up stations at all entry points to the field where all the monsters have been pushed to.

_Back to Mikan_

Natsume sat on the couch in deep thought thinking over all that has happened while Mikan was busy fawning over Aki.

She noticed he was in a state of shock and followed standard first aid procedures and treated him accordingly.

Once Aki seemed to calm down enough, Mikan decided to go and question Natsume and check up on him as well. She figured Natsume must know what's going on and hoped that he was not in shock as well.

"NATSUME" a loud voice snapped him out of his stupor.

Natsume blinked and looked at Mikan whose face was only inches away from his.

"What do you want?" Natsume muttered while looking down to hide his blush caused by the close proximity.

"I want to know what happened. I woke up this morning and found that you were gone. I tried calling you but no answer. I was worried out of my mind and then you return with a shell shocked Aki! Explain yourself!" Mikan demanded.

"Who are you? My mother?" Natsume asked angrily as he does not like being questioned like this.

"No, I'm not your mother."

"Then why are you asking me so many questions like you are."

"Because I'm your friend and I'm worried about you!"

Her statement was bittersweet for Natsume. It made him happy to know that she cares, but her declaration of being his friend stung him. He knew her well enough to acknowledge that she cares for all her friends and would not hesitate to help them. Even though it was nice to know that she cared, apart of him wished that maybe he was special enough so that she would care a little bit more about him then the rest of her friends.

Just as Natsume shook off his thoughts and was about to walk away from Mikan, the front door slammed open.

Natsume stood up immediately and tensed up at the sudden break in. His hands shot to where his daggers are hidden readying himself for an attack.

But no attacks came. Instead, a really loud and panicked bard came running in followed by a dancer.

"Mikan!!!! Have you heard the news?" Sumire asked loudly while shaking Mikan back and forth.

Mikan who was getting dizzy from all the shaking replied with a weak "no".

"Oi, stop shaking her if you don't want her to puke all over you." Natsume said irriatedly.

Sumire made a face showing disgust and quickly stepped away from Mikan.

Mikan reached out to grab the closest thing which happened to be Koko's arm and steadied herself. Natsume glared at Koko for being so close to Mikan.

Koko laughed nervously under his glare and tried to remove the attention from himself back onto the important matter.

"I'm surprised you haven't heard the news yet! It's all over the town! Actually, correction, it's all over Rune Midgard. Everyone knows about it." Koko exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?" Natsume pressed on with a good idea at what he's about to announce.

"A big explosion happened in the town of Morroc. Word has it that the town has been destroyed! It has also been taken over by a bunch of strange monsters. The Prontera Army is asking everyone who can fight for help." Koko replied glad that Natsume's attention has shifted from him to something else now.

"And Ruka-Sama is from Morroc!! I'm so worried about him! I tried to call him with my communicator device but I couldn't reach him!" Sumire exclaimed worriedly.

"That's probably because he has you blocked," Natsume muttered under his breath.

Koko snickered at the replied but then turned serious again. "I tried calling him as well but no response."

Natsume muttered curses under his breath at the news. He knew the base they were at early was in Morroc but since they left before anything could happen, he actually didn't know what ended up happening. He had no idea Satan Morroc created a huge explosion when he escaped from the other dimension back into this one.

"Wait, aren't you from Morroc as well? Aren't you worried about your family and friends?" Koko asked Natsume.

"I don't have family left in Morroc. Ruka was my only friend." Natsume replied quietly.

"Mikan have you heard anything from Ruka?" Koko asked her since Sumire is still pacing around in circles muttering nonsense.

Mikan shakes her head. "We could go find him!" Mikan suggested.

"No, it'll too dangerous." Natsume rejected.

"Aren't you worried about him?" Mikan asked.

Natsume sighed, "I'll go by myself. Just stay here." He commanded.

Mikan shook her head feverishly. "No! I'll come with you! He's my friend too. Plus if it's as dangerous as you say, you could use some help."

"I can hide in stealth to go look for him, you can't" Natsume pointed out. "And what about Aki. He's still out of it."

"Actually, he's doing a lot better now. He's calm down quite a bit. I could always feed him some sleeping pills to knock him out before we go so I don't have to worry about him." Mikan suggested.

"I want to come too" Sumire interjected when she heard the suggestion to go to Morroc.

"I'll come as well to help out!" Koko chimed in.

"We can form a search party for Ruka and his family! I'll call the others now!" Mikan exclaimed and called Hotaru on her communicator before Natsume could stop her.

Natsume sighed, Tsubasa was not going to like this when he learns of it.

After a several minutes, the rest of the gang arrived.

Since there is no stopping them, Natsume decided to go with them to make sure they're safe.

"Make sure everyone is well supplied. We'll put extra supplies in Nonoko and Anna's cart. We will not be joining as volunteers to help the army fight the monsters but we want to be prepared if anything unexpected is thrown our way. If battling is necessary, Hotaru will be our main offensive force today. The rest of us will support her in anyways possible." Natsume commanded while everyone listened.

"I didn't know your boyfriend was so bossy." Hotaru whispered quietly to Mikan.

Mikan turned red at Hotaru's comment and stuttered, "Wh wh what are you talking about."

Hotaru only smirked at Mikan's reaction and went back to packing the rest of her bag.

Once they were done their preparations, they warped to the ruined town of Morroc.

The moment they stepped out of the warp, they were stunned.

The explosion had completely destroyed the castle that use to stand in the centre of the town. The buildings near by the centre were also in ruins. Trees have been up lifted by their roots and tumbling down on whatever was in their paths. It was a devastating sight to behold.

Natsume was the first one to snap out of their momentarily stunned state. He went to a nearby guard and asked where were all the town's people. The guard told him that everyone has been evacuated to the pyramid area. They had set up a refugee camp in front of the pyramid when the monsters were roaming free in the town.

The refugee area will remain used until it is certain that Satan Morroc can be contained outside of Morroc and the town is rebuilt.

Natsume nodded in thanks and led the way to the refugee area.

Once they left the North West exit of the town, they found themselves in the refugee area.

Tents have been sent up all over the place. People were scattered everywhere. There were lost children crying and wondering around, people looking for their separated loved ones and the injured were just lying around. The group decided to stick together in this chaos. They started to walk around in hopes to find Ruka and his mom.

Every time the group came across someone that was injured, Mikan couldn't help herself but to stop and cast a few healing spells for them. She was great help to the people there as there was no other priestess around but she slowed down the group's progress tremendously. There were so many people injured and unattended to because every volunteer from the priest class was out on the battlefield. Only the acolytes sent by the church were here to help the town's people. There were so many injured that the spiritual power of the acolytes were just not enough.

Eventually when they had reached the most western part of the area they saw the back of a blond hair hunter in one of the tents. He was bent over someone that was lying on the ground and seemed to be nursing that person.

The group hurriedly rushed over.

Sumire yelled, "Ruka-Sama!!" as she ran ahead of the rest of the group.

The hunter turned towards where the voice was coming from and revealed that it was indeed Ruka.

"Oh thank God you're ok Ruka-Sama! I've been so worried about you!" Sumire declared as she launched herself at Ruka.

She was so fast that Ruka wasn't able to dodge in time. Not that he could because if he did dodge, she would have fallen on the person that is on the ground.

"Hey man, good to know you're alive! We've been trying to contact you ever since we heard about the explosion." Koko told him and gave him a slap on the back as he came jogging in after Sumire.

"Ah, I forgot to grab my communicator when we rushed out of the house." Ruka replied half heartily while trying to remove Sumire from himself and nodded at each one of his visitors as they came into his view.

"Ruka, what happened to Auntie?" Mikan asked when she looked at Ruka's mother that was lying on the ground pale and sweating.

Ruka's attention snapped towards Mikan whom he didn't see coming in with the group. His face darken instantly at her question, "While we were evacuating, our group got attacked by one of those monsters. It jumped on one of my neighbours and slashed him. I immediately grabbed my bow and arrows and tried to shoot it down. However it just seemed to be aggravated by me. It charged at me and my mother pushed me out of the way and took the hit for me. The army came in and forced it away so we could continue evacuating. I carried my mother out of the town and poured white potion on her wound as fast as I could. The potion helped closed the surface of the wound but it's not fully healed yet. She seem to have a fever now, probably caused by the wound. Since there's so many injured, the acolytes haven't had a chance to make their way over here yet. I've been taking care of her since."

Mikan nodded and wiped the sweat off Mrs Nogi's face. Then she casted several healing spells on her. The spells seemed to have worked as her face seems more peaceful and not contracted in pain. Her fever has also gone down after the spells.

Ruka's face brightens immediately, "Thank you so much Mikan." He said gratefully while giving her a hug from behind. This earned a growl from Natsume while Mikan smile innocently back at Ruka.

"It's no problem! It's my job to help people remember?" Mikan reminded him.

"She's the reason why it took us so long to get here. She had to stop and help every injured person we saw along the way here." Hotaru cut in.

"Maybe that's why I didn't see you with the group when they got here. You were still probably busy healing the last person. It's almost like that time when we first met." Ruka said with a small smile on his face.

Mikan blush lightly and grinned at him.

"Well now that I know you're ok, I think I'll go check up on the rest of the people here! Since you said there are only acolytes here, I suppose other people could use my help as well." Mikan said while she got up off the ground and dusted herself.

"You probably shouldn't wonder off by yourself Mikan." Hotaru reminded her.

"But it should be safe here right? The gaurds said the monsters have been pushed back outside of the town in the opposite direction of here. So they should be quite far away from us." Mikan replied.

Hotaru sighed as she knows how stubborn Mikan can be especially when it came to helping others.

"You never know what could happen. I'll go with you." Natsume volunteered himself.

Mikan turned to him and smiled and mouthed thank you. Then she turned to Hotaru, "I'll have Natsume with me so I'll be safe. Don't worry."

Just as Mikan and Natsume were about to leave the group, loud screaming could be heard not far from where they were.

The entire group looked in that direction in alarm and took off to investigate.

The group arrived to a scene straight out of a zombie movie.

They found a monster that resembles a human that was savagely biting a man in the neck causing critical wounds.

The arrival of the group attracted its attention. It stopped biting the man momentarily to eye the new arrival. In an instant, it left its victim, who was almost dead, and started to make its way to the group.

The monster crawled in a very awkward manner, something that you would expect to see out of the exorcist. It was on its hands and feet with the back towards the ground and chest upwards to the sky. It looked like it was in the "bridge" position you can obtain by lying on your back and pushing your back off the ground and supporting yourself on your hands and feet. One would think it would be really hard to move in that position but it's movement was really fast.

Ruka was the first one to respond to the threat. He immediately notched an arrow into his bow and pulled back further then normal for extra power. He unleashed his arrow at the target. The force carried in the arrow was sufficient to knock it back several steps but it didn't stop it from advancing again.

The attack by Ruka snapped everyone out of their reverie. Koko immediately began playing a song on his Lute that would help speed up casting time for any skills a person wants to cast as long as they can hear his song (Skill is called Magic Strings in game). Sumire danced a spell around her party members to decrease the amount of spiritual energy use when using their skills (Skill is called Gypsy's Kiss in game).

Mikan casted every spell she knew that would help boosts her party's strength and give them added protection.

Hotaru let the music take over her as she used her skill Storm Gust to create a blizzard right over the monster. The music speed up her casting time as well as the wait time in-between each spell she can use. Using the music as her guide, she led the full frontal attack on this demon before them.

However, even with Hotaru's blizzard knocking the monster around, it didn't stop it from advancing. It continued moving towards them and was gaining grounds. Yuu joined in the attack casting up firewalls to slow down the monsters movement.

Ruka continued to use his skill to knock the monster back to prevent it from getting too close to the group. Every once in a while, Ruka would set down several traps in front of them and then the group would back up to create more room in between them and the monster. The traps only slowed down the monster by a bit as it was able to get out of the trap quite fast.

Nonoko and Anna joined in the fight by throwing various chemicals at the monster.

Even their homunculus joined in the fight. Nonoko's vanil used magical bolt attack on the monster while Anna's Lif tried to physically attack the monster.

After many attacks, the monster seemed weakened but still advanced forward.

It let out a shrilled yell and the group found that they had lost their voices. Loosing their voice meant that none of them would be able use any of the skills they have been using to attack the monster.

The monster used this opportunity to quickly move towards them.

While Mikan was fishing a green potion out of her bag and quickly downing it, the monster reached out and swiped at Ruka who was in the front.

Ruka fell backwards from the hit and his falcon came down immediately and attacked the monster diverting its attention.

While Ruka's falcon attacked, Nonoko's vanil joined in physically hitting the monster and succeeded in distracting it from their owners. The group backed up yet again dragging Ruka along while it was distracted. Anna's Lif, whom was not effected by the silence spell, healed the two other pets as the monster attacked back in retaliation.

Thanks to the green potion, Mikan got her voice back. She quickly cured the rest of the group to get rid of the silence spell that took away their voices. Once everyone was cured and they started their offensive attacks again, Mikan tended to Ruka's wound.

Mikan's heal spell was able to get him back onto his feet and allowing him to battle once again.

Natsume appeared out of nowhere from behind the monster. He quickly and efficiently impaled his dagger in the chest of the monster and slid backwards away from it in a hurry.

Seeing the dagger impaled in the monster, Hotaru switched her spell to Lord of Vermilion causing a lightening storm to rain onto the monster. The lightening seemed to be attracted to the metal dagger sticking out of the monster. The lightening strikes sent the monster into convulsion and then it finally stayed still on the ground.

After several moments and the monster has not moved an inch, the group let out the collective breath they have all been holding.

The group have gone on many training trips before battling a whole assortment of monsters, but nothing has ever matched this one's power and stamina.

Usually the monsters they have faced would either freeze from the blizzard or die after one or two of the spells. But this monster was only weakened after many many castings of the same spell. On top of that, the other people in the group where also dealing lots of physical damage to it! If it took so many of them in that long period of time to take down one of these new monsters, they couldn't imagine the battle that has taken place and is still on going to drive back what has been released.

"What the hell was that?" Koko voiced out what everyone was thinking.

"That was one of the monsters that attacked the town. There were several types of monsters that came out of the Gorge. They pretty much swarmed the town." Ruka explained.

"But how did it get here? I thought the guard said the army and the volunteers have driven the monsters out of the town and into the field to the East of the town. We're in the complete opposite direction right now." Yuu pointed out.

"Well, you see, that corner over there was where we brought all the dead. The bodies wait there until someone could identify that person and take them away for burial. Seeing how this one resembles a human when it's lying on the ground, someone might have thought it was a dead body and put it on the wagon that brought all the bodies over." Ruka rationalized.

"Then it must be somewhat intelligent to understand that it should play dead when the rest of its companions were driven out of town." Hotaru observed.

"I'm going to report this to the guards. You guys go back to where Ruka had set up camp." Natsume told them.

"You know, we can always move Ruka's mom back to my house. It'll be much safer then here." Mikan suggested.

"I don't want to intrude Mikan." Ruka responded.

"Nonsense! How can I not help a friend in need?" Mikan replied stubbornly, "Plus it would probably be helpful if I could keep an eye on your mother to make sure she recovers completely. You never know if those monsters have any unknown poison that can spread through their attack since they're completely new."

Ruka sighed in defeat. "Either way, let's head back to where she is first and wait for Natsume to come back before we get out of here."

Mikan nodded in agreement.

"Actually, I still want to at least check up on the acolytes to see how they're doing with their healing mission. I'll go with Natsume to the guard to check on their progress." Mikan told the group before she went to Natsume's side.

The group nodded in agreement with their plan and went off in their separate directions.

* * *

:)

I hope 9 pages was enough to um....make up for the long wait.

Looks like we're about to come to an end here

So Episode 12 for the game (updates are done in "episodes") is Nightmare of Midgard, Destruction of Morroc. Which is when Satan Morroc broke free. Creating a Dimensional Gorge etc etc

These new monsters are actually really hard. We usually make trans class parties to go kill them....so what I described here would really not match with the game too well

You would not want to face it with a group of non trans classes

Well I think the story should come to an end soon. I mean...the game can go on forever...but I don't think I can keep this going on forever...

Just have to find a way to wrap this up nicely.

Not too sure how many chapters it'll take but not much longer I would assume.

Well bye until next time


	32. The Battle

Hey guys

Sorry for the long wait.

I had parts of this planned for a while but I just didn't know how to write the rest.

Then I became really super busy with all the stuff happening.

We're almost there at the end!

I hope you like this chapter

* * *

Mikan and Natsume found a guard in the refugee area and reported the incident.

The guard relayed the report over his communicator and asked them to stay put for a bit.

Moments later, a champion appeared before them.

"What's the status?" he asked the guard.

The guard saluted then pointed to Mikan and Natsume and replied, "Sir, they claimed that one of the monsters was brought to the refugee area by an accident. It was in the area where we placed all the dead bodies."

"Where is the monster now?" He asked as he summoned spirit spheres.

"They killed it, sir." The guard replied.

The Champion eyed the two of them, "How would you two manage to kill one of those monsters that more experience adventurers have trouble with?"

"We didn't do it alone, our friends helped out too."

"I see. You guys only bumped into one, correct?"

Mikan nodded.

"Captain, take your men and search the area. Make sure nothing else is hiding in the area. Report back to me the moment the place has been thoroughly checked."

The guard saluted and immediately contacted his guards to run a search.

"We could help!" Mikan piped in.

"No, I want you two to go home. You two don't look like you have enough experience yet to face these things."

"But we killed one already!" Mikan exclaimed.

"You were lucky. It was probably extremely hurt when it was brought in here by mistake. Plus, you had a whole party to help you fight the monsters. The two of you alone won't be able to accomplish anything."

Mikan wanted to protest but turned to look at Natsume when he placed a hand on her shoulder. He shook his head to signal her to back off on the matter.

"But" Mikan started only to be cut off by Natsume.

"Stop it Mikan. Everyone is waiting for us back at your place." Natsume reminded her.

Mikan looked down at the floor and mumbled something.

"Knowing the extent of your capabilities shows maturity which is something that can be gained through experience. Don't go rushing into things, little one. There's plenty of chances for you and many things to do. Now go back to help those around you first." The Champion gently said to her then walked away from them.

Natsume nudged Mikan, "Let's go back."

Mikan reluctantly nodded and took out a blue gem. She casted the warp portal spell and broke the gem. Both of them stepped into the warp and appeared in front of her house in Prontera.

They stepped into their house to be greeted by the gang.

"How did everything go?" Anna excitedly asked.

Mikan told them what had happened while Natsume sat on the couch.

After Mikan was finished her story she looked around and noticed Ruka wasn't there, "Where's Ruka and Auntie?"

"They're upstairs in the guest room with Ji-Chan," Hotaru replied.

"I should go check on them." With that said, Mikan stood up and headed upstairs with Natsume following her as he too wanted to see how she was doing.

When they stepped into the room they saw Ruka's mom in the futon resting and Ruka and Ji-Chan quietly talking while tending to her.

They looked up when the door opened to reveal Mikan and Natsume.

"Ah, you're back." Ji-Chan stated, "Is everything ok?"

"It was fine. How's Auntie doing?" She asked.

"She seems to be doing fine now. She still has a bit of the fever and needs to rest. We were just talking about accommodations before you came in." Ji-Chan explained, "Since we only have one guest room and Natsume is already there, I suggested that you can share a room with Ruka's mom and Ruka and Natsume could share a room."

"But I don't want to be a bother," Ruka interjected.

"Nonsense. Where else would you go?" Ji-Chan asked.

"I could stay at the inn with my mom." Ruka replied.

"The Inn is full. After what happened in Morroc, people who were able to get out left and went to other towns. The inn is full and so is the hospital. I know the Church has opened it's doors and is taking in people but why go there when you have friends here."

Ruka was silently weighing his options when Mikan chimed in.

"Don't worry about it Ruka. Just stay here until things get better. It'll just be like a giant sleep over." Mikan said trying to make the situation lighter.

Ruka couldn't help but give a faint smile.

That's when the door creaked open and the rest of the gang fell onto the floor at the doorway.

They laughed nervously for being caught eavesdropping except for Hotaru who stood behind everyone looking impassive.

"So… a sleep over eh Mikan? Are we invited too?" Koko asked.

"Sure! We can set up futons down stairs in the living room. Why doesn't everyone go back home and grab there stuff and come back here?" Mikan suggested.

"I can grab an extra futon for Ruka if you don't have another one." Yuu offered.

"That would be great if you could," Mikan replied.

Ruka bowed to the gang gratefully for helping him out in this sticky situation. It felt really good to have such good friends, "Thank you everyone."

"That's what friends are for." Koko replied with a bright smile on his face.

"You know, when you guys decide to either join a guild or form a guild, you could always buy a house or fight in the War of Emperium games for castles so everyone could live there together." Ji-Chan looked at them and stated.

"Ah right, you use to belong to a guild too. You use to tell me stories about that all the time." Mikan stated, "But then that means I won't be at home with you Ji-Chan!"

Ji-Chan chuckled softly, "That doesn't mean you can't visit me, silly. It'll just be like living in residence at the Prontera church. You came to visit me often."

As much as Ji-Chan wanted Mikan to stay with him, looking at her and the gang, he knows what he had just suggested was inevitable. It would also help them a lot in terms of developing as an individual and improving in team work. Ji-Chan understood the need to be independent and living with a group of fellow adventurers and friends will only help strength their bond and be beneficial when they go out to explore the world.

Hotaru looked at Ji-Chan with understanding of where he's coming from having grown up with Mikan.

"Why don't we think about that later?" She suggested. "For now, everyone go get their stuff and meet back here in Mikan's house for the sleep over."

Everyone nodded and went to their respective places to gather their stuff.

_Back in field East of Morroc_

The intense battle against Satan Morroc and his minion is still in full swing.

They were able to successfully push the monsters out of the town but the battle seemed endless as Satan Morroc kept on summoning more of is minions out from the other dimension.

Many people were hurt and dying but they kept on going.

The transcendent classes pushed forward as much as they could while the non-transcendent classes followed behind. They did the best that they could to keep up with the more experienced folks but it just wasn't enough.

Tsubasa and Misaki were one of the more experienced ones out of the non-transcendent folks and they were barely surviving.

Misaki's spiritual power was quickly draining as their group finished off that last monster. The group continued to push forward as Misaki slumped to the ground trying to catch her breath and regain some energy. Curious to why there's noise coming from behind her as her group is ahead, she turned and looked at the source. Dread fell upon her as her eyes landed on the source of the noise.

Someone must have caused one of the monsters to teleport and it appeared right where they group had just finished a battle.

The monster shook off it's daze from teleporting and charged at Misaki at amazing speed.

Misaki felt like she was a deer caught in the headlights. When she snapped out of her shock, there was no time to react. She submitted to her fated and closed her eyes, bracing herself for the blow.

Seconds passed, she felt the impact of a hit but the pain never came. Instead she heard a familiar voice screaming in agonizing pain.

She opened her eyes and saw that the monster was still in front of her and attacking her, yet she felt no pain.

She immediately turned and looked behind her to see Tsubasa kneeling down with cuts all over his body and his face contorted with pain.

He was surrounded in a glowing blue light and the blue connected the two of them together.

She immediately knew that he used the sacrifice spell which took all the damage that was meant for her and transferred it to him instead.

She screamed Tsubasa's name and he looked up at her and gave her a faint smile before closing his eyes and falling face down into the dirt.

The blue glow started to disappeared after Tsubasa fell.

Misaki eyes burned with fury as she turned her gaze back at the monster.

She dodged the next hit the monster dished out and snapped backwards to put some distance in between them and move herself closer to Tsubasa.

She saw a Ygg berry on the ground that must have rolled out of Tsusbasa's supply bag when he fell. She picked it up and ate it immediately.

She felt her body restore and spiritual energy come rushing back into her.

She immediately summoned spirit spheres which circled around her.

She gripped her Mace hard and glared at the monster.

"Hold on for me Tsubasa." Misaki whispered to no one in particular.

Then she charged at the monster while transferring her all her energy into her fist holding the Mace.

She jumped up and punched the monster in the face using all her spiritual energy (Guillotine fist). Her spirit spheres immediately disappeared as the balls of energy was all used up in that 1 attack.

The monster fell down dead after that deadly hit crushed it's skull in.

After it fell, she immediately ran to Tsubasa.

She gently cradled him in her arms and checked for a pulse.

The pulse was very weak but it gave her hope.

"Stupid Tsubasa. What were you thinking taking the damage for me." Misaki muttered as she dug around her supplies to find healing items.

As she was digging around her bag another monster approached them.

Misaki's face twisted in disbelief at her luck.

With so many people around them fighting, why couldn't it attack someone else?

Why must it come towards them before she had a chance to make sure Tsubasa will be alright?

On top of that, she didn't even have time to recover her spiritual energy yet! Every time she uses that special skill, she doesn't naturally recover spiritual energy for the next 5 minutes. She would have to find another one of those berries to fully restore her energy. But even with her energy fully restored, the chances of her defeating the monster by herself is very slim. It doesn't look as hurt as the last one that got teleported here.

Misaki was torn between immediately attending to Tsubasa and risk both their lives or fight this monster head on and risk Tsubasa dying because he wasn't tended to.

Misaki said a silent prayer for someone to help them and as if it Odin heard her prayers; they were encapsulated in a white light that the monster bounced off of sending it backwards hitting the wall and slumping down to the ground.

Misaki looked up and saw a figure descending. The figure was heavily armoured and had a pair of wings on its back. As the being got closer, she saw that it was a woman, with blond hair cascading around her face. Even though she looks young, her eyes held wisdom way beyond her years. Misaki immediately recognized her as a Valkyrie, a goddess warrior maiden. There are two ways to meet the Valkyrie. One was through a secret portal in Juno for those to seek the Valkyrie when they have gained enough experience and proven themselves worthy to gain greater power. If the Valkyrie deems you worthy, you will transcend to your next class. The second way is when a person dies. The Valkyrie will appear to those that are deemed worthy of fighting along side the Aesir when Ragnarok comes and guide their souls to the hall of Valhalla.

"Does that mean we're dead?" Misaki thought to herself. She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the Valkyrie's voice.

"Warriors, you have proven yourselves to be strong and noble. The release of Satan Morroc has disturbed the future and the timing of Ragnarok. Even though you're not dead yet, to help restore the balance that Satan Morroc has disturb, I'm offering you a chance to continue to fight with increased power. But for accepting this power, you shall be called upon when Ragnarok comes whether you're dead or alive. You shall battle to protect the Aesir and Midgard. Do you accept?"

Misaki looked down at Tsubasa who was too weak to answer for himself and felt his hand lightly squeezing hers as a response.

Misaki then looked the Valkyrie straight in the eyes and answered solemnly, "Yes"

The Valkyrie nodded and Misaki felt power rushing through her body.

The pain from the wounds of battle disappeared. She looked down and saw a blue glow engulf her and Tsubasa's body.

The glow became so bright that she couldn't see.

When the light disappeared, she saw that her clothing has changed. Gone are the monk's uniform, it has been replaced with the uniform of someone in the Champion class.

Tsubasa's armour has also change. It's thicker and bulkier then the Crusader's armour. The style of the armour is different as well. He's now dressed in the uniform of a Paladin. The bleeding from his wounds have all disappeared as if it was never there. He opened his eyes and looked at Misaki and gave her a smile. Then he sat up on his own and looked at the Valkyrie and acknowledged the power she has bestowed them.

"Now go and fight warriors, we will meet again at the time of Ragnarok." With that said, she disappeared from their sight.

When she disappeared, the monster that was repelled away previously woke up from its unconscious state. Tsubasa and Misaki got up onto their feet with renewed energy and power they've never felt before.

They turned and faced the monster together. Tsubasa held up his shield whose size and shape has changed. It is heavier then before and seemed to be embedded with magic. He figured it must have been a gift from the Valkyrie.

When he nodded at Misaki, she immediately summoned all 5 spirit spheres at once. With her newly gained power, she did not have to summon the spheres one at a time like she had to when she was a monk. She gripped her mace tightly and started to run towards the monster.

Tsubasa held his shield tightly and drew his arm back in a throwing position. He unwounded his arm around his body and let the shield fly out of the hands. The hurled shield was sent spinning towards the monster. The shield acted like a boomerang. It cut into the monster as it passed it on its way out and back.

Tsubasa caught the shield when it came flying back. The shield distracted the monster and allowed Misaki to get up close and personal. She let out a series of punches one after the other knocking the monster left and right.

Meanwhile, Tsubasa watched her back and casted heal on her every time the monster struck. Once in a while, when the monster looks like it was getting the upper hand, he would use his skill Gloria Domini which called on holy power to deal damage to the monster.

Eventually the monster fell on the ground. Misaki took this chance and gathered all her spiritual energy into her fist. Then she smashed the monster in the face while channelling all her spiritual energy through her fist to deal more damage.

The monster which was already weakened from fighting Misaki and Tsubasa dropped dead onto the ground when its brain stopped giving commands to its body.

Misaki dropped to the floor in exhaustion and Tsubasa went up behind her to support her.

Misaki gave him a weak smile and they watched the others battled around them.

They observe that some of their other comrades also seemed to have transcended sometime during battle. The awakening of Satan Morroc must have really messed things up for the Valkyrie to come out of Valhalla and recruit this way.

Tsubasa handed Misaki a blue potion which she gladly downed. With renewed energy, they took their stance together and continue their battle.

Eventually, the troops came face to face with Satan Morroc himself.

Just looking at him can strike fear into your bones. The battle was intense. Many people lost their lives. But in the end they were successful in containing Satan Morroc. Before he was completely defeated, he made a mass explosion in the middle of the field creating a dimension rift. He retreated back to the dimension which he came from but swore revenge once again.

* * *

Well....this story can probably go on forever but it does needs to come to an end.

I can't keep this up for too much longer

A couple more chapters should do it!

Until next time

Cheers


	33. Emperium

Hi Guys,

I'm so sorry for being away for so long. I've just been so busy. Dragonboat season has started. I'm trying to study for GMAT. I need to apply for my etc etc _

Oh...planning my Japan trip as well. :P It's just so draining that I don't know what to write anymore.

Super busy at home and at work. Doesn't help when RO does some crazy leveling event either.

I also just noticed that I haven't been receiving any emails from FF for a while now. It's weird, even though I have alerts on stories etc...they just dont' email me anymore :( I hope you guys still get the email alerts. I'm afraid many people have forgotten about me since I've been missing in action.

I hope this chapter is ok. Lots of words and more explaining then action. I think 1 or 2 more chapters left. :)

* * *

Months has pasted since the Satan Morroc incident. The town is still in ruins but order has been restored. Many volunteers have gone to help rebuild the town. Meanwhile, the residents of Morroc are either staying in the refugee area or have left for another town.

Ruka and his mom continued to stay with Mikan and her grandfather even after she had gotten better. Ruka's mom didn't want to intrude and attempted to leave once she had gotten better but Ji-Chan had insisted that they would stay until their house was rebuilt.

The Gang had gotten closer ever since the Satan Morroc incident. It was rude awakening for them to see how still inexperience they were compared to the other adventurers. The gang is determined to get stronger. In order to get more experience, they've been travelling together to many new and different places. The more exposure they got to fighting the different type of monsters, the more knowledge they gain. They've learnt a lot about how to fight different types of monsters and how to fight together as a team. They all wish to get strong and transcend to their next classes just like Misaka and Tsubasa-senpai.

However, on this particular day, instead of going off on another adventure to battle more monsters, they were busy item hunting. They hit their supply stash quite heavily because of all the outings they've been going on lately. Since it cost too much to keep on buying more, they're trying to gather items to make the supplies that they are able to and only buy the ones they cannot make. So today, everyone is pitching in to help gather items for Anna and Nonoko to make supplies for the gang to use. Anna is able to make many different potions while Nonoko can make other supportive items such as potions to coat your equipment, bombs etc.

The gang split up into different groups to gather more items at a faster pace.

Hotaru went with Koko to the pyramid basement to hunt for immortal hearts that are taken from the mummified dogs called verit. The Verits roam the around along with the Minorous. Hotaru's Storm Gust spell can quickly dispose of both types of monsters so a team consisting of only Koko and Hotaru would be enough.

Ruka, Kitsu, Natsume and Aki went to Aldebaran's clock tower to hunt for starsands from bathories, while Yuu went alone to Payon dungeon to gather stems from the Mandragora plants. The rest of the girls went to the Hvergelmir's Fountain which is rumoured to be somehow connected to the roots of the yggdrasil tree. The girls are there gathering various herbs so Anna can make all sorts of potions from them.

While the girls were chatting away and plucking the leaves of the plants, Mikan noticed something shiny in the soil underneath the shining plant she was picking from. She brushed off the surface soil to get a better look at what the shiny item was. She found that it was some sort of shiny stone that was quite large so she started digging around the stone and unearthing more of it. Once she finished digging, she pulled the large golden shining mineral out of the ground.

"Hey guys, look what I found buried underneath the soil here!" Mikan exclaimed

The girls looked up from they spots and laid their eyes on the large shining rock that Mikan held up.

Anna was the first to respond, "Mikan! You found an emperium!"

"An emperium?" Mikan repeated looking at the rock questionably.

"Yes! Didn't they teach you anything in school?" Sumire scolded Mikan.

"An Emperium is needed to form a guild! You bring the Emperium to the guild registry in Prontera and they will use the mineral to create the badges for your guild." Nonoko explained.

"Oh! Does that mean we can form a guild now?" Mikan asked.

"Well, technically yes, we have the item so we have the ability to make a guild. But let's talk to the others to see what they think. We're always partying together anyways. I think we would eventually all join a guild later anyways when we're more experienced." Anna suggested thoughtfully.

"Why don't we as the others to see what they think?" Nonoko suggested.

"Do you think we have enough items to use to replenish our supplies?" Sumire asked.

"I think we have enough herbs for me to make a good amount of potions with. Let's call the others to see how they're doing." Anna responded after taking inventory of how much herbs they gathered.

"Hey guys, are you guys done gathering your items? We're done on our side so we're wondering if you guys are good to go as well." Mikan spoke into her communicator.

"I have quite a few stems and my bags are almost all full. I think I'll get a bit more to fill up the bags and then I'll be done." Yuu replied.

"We got a bunch of hearts from the Verits. I refuse to do this job again. Killing the monster is one thing, removing the heart is just disgusting." Hotaru replied.

"We're not really done with starsands yet. We still have one more bag to fill up." Ruka replied.

"Ok, how about we meet up at my house in an hour. That'll give people enough time to finish off what they're doing before coming over!" Mikan suggested.

Everyone agreed to her suggestion and continued what they were doing.

Since Anna wanted to prepare some snacks for everyone, the girls left the forest right after the call.

After arriving back in town, Nonoko and Sumire went shopping for ingredients they needed for the food while Mikan helped Anna prep in the Kitsuchen.

Once Nonoko and Sumire got back with the ingredients, Anna and Mikan got started on making the tea time snacks while Nonoko and Sumire began sorting out all the herbs they have collected.

An hour later when the rest of the gang arrived, they were greeted by the sweet aroma of strawberries.

On the table waiting for them were individual sized strawberry shortcakes and a steaming pot of herbal tea.

The groups saw the girls sitting at the other end of the table.

They were finished sorting all the herbs by now and they were packing them away into air tight boxes to keep in the freshness.

"That smells good." Koko commented as he licked his lips and went over to grab a plate.

"Thanks," Anna repiled, "Mikan helped me make it."

"You sure it's not poisoned." Natsume teased as he reached for a plate himself.

"Fine then, don't eat it!" Mikan told him while trying to snatch away his plate.

Natsume moved his hand away so Mikan missed the plate. Mikan tried to grab it again and Natsume moved it away again.

The girls giggle at their childish behaviour while Hotaru just roll her eyes.

Ruka couldn't help but look at his friend green with envy because of his close proximity with Mikan.

Hotaru interrupts them, "Will you two stop flirting already?"

Natsume glared at Hotaru for interrupting them while Mikan turns beet red and denies that they were flirting.

"Anyways, why did you guys call us back so urgently?" Hotaru asked.

Mikan stops her flailing, "Oh right! We found an Emperium! I was picking the leaves off a shiny plant and I spotted something shiny in the ground. When I dug it out the other girls told me that I had found an Emperium." Mikan told her with a smile.

"So we decided to call the rest of you guys to let you know what we found! Since we have an Emperium now, that means we can form a guild!" Anna added in excitedly.

"So what do you guys think?" Nonoko asked.

Koko was the first to speak out being the out going person he is, "That sounds great! I think it's about time we joined a guild or made one."

"Yeah, we can start the guild with just us for now and grow it over time into a bigger guild." Kitsu suggested.

"I sort of prefer a guild where everyone is friends with each other," Yuu voiced.

"Well we can still all be friends even if it's a big guild." Kitsu tried to reason out.

"Who should be the guild leader?" Sumire asked, "I know Mikan found the Emperium, but I don't think she's capable of running a guild."

"Hey what do you mean by that!" Mikan protested.

"Well, how can I put this?" Sumire responded while trying to think of a nicer way to tell Mikan but Natsume beat her to it.

"Basically you're too stupid to run a guild." Natsume told her.

"You're so mean Natsume! Even if I'm stupid you don't have to say it like that. It's not like I do a bad job as a priestess. I always take care of you guys don't I?" Mikan cried and tried to hit Natsume.

"It's more then just being a priestess Mikan. When you're the guild leader, you're responsible for other people, not just their health but their livelihood as well. It's the guild leader's job to organize events, find jobs to raise money for the guild, find a place to stay if the guild chooses to stay together, keep account of supplies and just generally solve problems that arises in the guild. It gets even more complicated if the guild decides to participate in War of Emperium. Then it's up to the leader to lead the guild in the fight to win castles for the guild." Yuu explained to Mikan hoping to help her feel better.

"Oh, that's a lot of work. Don't you think that's too much for one person?" Mikan asked.

"Actually, in some guilds, you'll find co-leaders so the guild actually has 2 leaders. Or sometimes it's even more structured where you have multiple people in charge of different things and they report to the guild leader. So really the guild leader still holds the guild together, but he has lots of helpers to do the actual work." Yuu explained.

"So are we going to create a guild or should we just sell the mineral?" Mikan asks.

"Let's make a guild!" Koko shouted.

"Ok, then who should be the guild leader? And how many people should lead?" Mikan asks.

"I nominate Hotaru and Yuu, since they're the smartest of all of us." Anna suggested.

"Natsume would probably be good for leading combat situations. He was the one telling us what to do and giving us job assignments in battle before we went to Morroc to find Ruka that time." Koko reminded everyone.

"Yeah but he's so anti-social, he probably won't make a good guild leader." Mikan replied while sticking out her tongue at Natsume.

"Tch, who said I want to be a guild leader anyways." Natsume grunted.

"Why don't we do this? Hotaru and Yuu can be co-leaders and take care of the guild for day to day purposes. Since Natsume seems to have lots of combat experience, he can lead us in terms of fighting, whether it's fighting while exploring new places or in War of Emperium if we decide to participate." Nonoko suggested thoughtfully.

"That's a great idea." Sumire piped in.

"All in favour say Aye." Kitsu announced.

Everyone replied with Aye except for the people being nominated.

Yuu was blushing really hard, "Well, if everyone thinks I can do it, I'll give it a try."

"What about you Natsume?" Ruka asked.

"Hn."

"I will handle all the money." Hotaru claimed with money signs in her eyes.

"YAY, then we're all set!" Mikan exclaims, "Let's go do it now!"

With that said, Mikan casted Agility up on everyone so they can all walk to the guild registry faster.

Once they were at the registry office, the receptionist handed them a form to fill in.

They took the form and looked it over.

"Hum, guild name. What should we be called?" Yuu wondered out loud.

"Soul Society!" Koko exclaimed excitedly.

Sumire smacked him in the head, "You've been reading too much manga."

"Endless Legacy?" Kitsu suggested.

"It's already taken." Anna pointed to the official guild list on the wall.

"Lunae." Hotaru simply stated.

"Hum…I like it." Mikan seconded.

"Of course you would since Hotaru suggested it." Natsume snidely remarked.

But before they could break out into one of their silly little arguments, Ruka chimed in. "I like it as well."

"Has a nice ring to it," Yuu added.

"All in favour say Aye." Said Kitsu.

All said Aye except for Natsume.

"So be it," Hotaru said as she wrote it down on the form.

"It only has space for one guild leader name." She stated as she continue to fill out the rest of the form.

"Then what are we suppose to do if we want to have 2 leaders?" Mikan asked.

The receptionist over heard them and explained, "We just need one person to be the official leader of the guild for information purposes. All announcements and communication will be done through our office with the leader listed. Also, they will be the ones that can access the guild treasure room in the War of Emperium castles."

Money signs appeared in Hotaru's eyes when she heard treasure room. "I'll be putting my name down."

The rest of the group sweat dropped and nodded in fear of getting hit by her spells if they disagreed.

After filling in the rest of the form, Hotaru handed it in along with the Emperium.

The lady took in the form and registered them into the database.

She gave the Emperium to another worker who melted the mineral immediately and poured it into ready made moulds.

Another worker casted a cold bolt spell to cool down the badges. Once they were cool, the badges were given to Hotaru. She handed the badges out to everyone in the group and kept the extra ones in her bag for future recruits.

The receptionist gave them their private number on the communicator which is meant for guild chat. It is entered into the third line in each person's communicator so they can talk with all guild members at anytime they want. It's basically like the party line but for guilds.

Once they were done, they thanked the lady and left the office.

"Hey lets get one of those castles from the War Games for our headquarters!" Koko suggested.

"Yeah that would be so cool." Kitsu chimed in.

"There's still lots of work to be done before we will be able to win a castle." Yuu pointed out.

"We'll need to do more recruiting, for starters." Hotaru added.

"We'll also need to train harder and get more experience. Not just fighting against monsters but we will have to train how to fight against other people." Natsume added.

"Well why don't we work on recruiting first?" Anna suggested.

"Yeah, I'm sure we all know people who might want to join a guild." Nonoko agreed.

"ooooo, I'll call up Tsubasa and Misaki senpai right away to see if they would like to join us." Mikan exclaimed and excused herself to talk to her senpais.

"Yuu and I should go and get more fighting experience though. We're probably the closest to transcending right now out of all of us right now since we've been fast tracking ever since we started Mage School. It'll be better if a majority of us can transcended before we start participating in the games." Hotaru pointed out.

"A high Wizard and a scholar will be critical in the war games." Natsume agreed.

"So if our plan is to participate in the games, then why don't we do this? We'll split our time between training and recruiting for now. We can reach out to our friends and put up bulletin postings to recruit, until we have enough people. We'll also continue to organize lots of parties to fight against monsters to get more experience so we can transcend. We can start sparing against each other in the fighting arenas when we have all the key people we need." Yuu suggested.

Koko patted him on the back, "and this is why we voted you to be one of the guild leaders. Ay ay, guild leader, lets do this!"

* * *

I hope I haven't lost my touch

I'll try to post next update as soon as I can...but really...I should be studying right now.

Please review


	34. Guild leveling

Hi Guys,

This is one of my shorter chapters but heavy in content...it's for explanation and set up for what is about to happen.

I'm sorry but I'm so busy right now in real life. Dragonboat has officially taken over my life...i dont' even have enough time to study for the test I need to take before I go to Asia for the world club crew. :(

Having that said, I'll try to update again before I leave but I really don't know if I can.

If i write shorter chapters I might be able to update again but we'll see!

Enjoy!

* * *

The initial max guild member capacity quickly maxed out as the group went out to recruit their friends. Since each person brought a couple of friends into the guild, they are now at the max capacity of 16.

All guilds start off at level one and have the max capacity of 16 people.

The guild is allowed to increase the max capacity by applying for the increase when it gains new levels. The registry tracks the status of each guild, which includes their level, the ability each guild decided to invest into and the members of each guild. There are many different abilities guilds can obtain other then increasing the max capacity. The guild can obtain things like upgraded guardians which are robots that will appear in castles they own for the war game, ability to recall all guild members to the guild leader's location in the castle for the games and so on. Almost all the skills a guild can obtain relates to the War game and the castles in some fashion. But with each level, they are only allowed to apply for one additional ability for the guild.

To level the guild, the guild must do jobs for the guild registry. Each job the registry posts have different amount of points and money you can earn from performing the job. Once you've earned enough points, the registry will upgrade the level of the guild and you can submit which additional ability you want to apply for.

Most of the jobs the registry post are adventuring relating. Various people who need the help of an adventurer can post up a job through the registry. The registry will determine how many points to reward for completing the job and the money is the payment coming from the actual person who is looking for the helper. A lot of people prefer to post jobs through the registry rather then random bulletins. You never know who you get when you post up a job on the bulletin. At least when you go through the registry, everything will be legitimate and there's a track record of these people. It provides the posters a sense of security knowing that the person doing their job is not sketchy and more skilled.

Since the guild registry holds all the guild information in their hands, when jobs are sent to them, they can either put up the posting for any guild to apply for the job or they can reach out to specific guilds to offer them the job. Usually the toughest jobs are not posted up; instead the registry will contact the guild leaders of the top ranking guilds to see if anyone is available for the job. If no one has the resources to take on the job, the registry will then decide if they should post it up or hand it over to the official guilds for the different classes. The official guilds have more resources then individual guilds.

Since the gang wanted to participate in the War games, they need a lot more people then 16 before they can start. Guilds with the absolute max capacity have 56 people in their guild! It won't be possible for their group of 16 people to fight off 56 people.

So in order to gain levels, the guild has split off into different groups to take on various tasks for the registry. That way, they're all able to gain more fighting experience, money and help the guild get bigger to be ready for the games. Ideally, the guild should have at least 36 people and some skills that will help them in the war game like recall so the gang had lots of work to do in order to gain all the levels required to be ready for the games.

Some of the jobs are rather weird. There as one that Anna and Nonoko decided to take on that fell into the weird category. It was a posting from the mining company in Einbroch for a temporary cook. It seems like their cook encountered an accident and the doctor is making him take a month off. The job was worth a good amount of guild experience and it was very well paid so Anna decided to do it since she loved cooking anyways. Nonoko tagged along so she can get samples from the mine.

Boy, were they in for a surprise when they got to Einbroch. Einbroch was known as the industrial city but they never expected the city to be so gloomy. It turns out there's 2 different parts of Einbroch. A rich part and a poor part called Einbech. When they first got off the airship they noticed a difference in air quality. The air was heavier and dirtier then what they're use to due to all the factories in the area. It only got worst when they got off the train that took them from Einbroch to Einbech. The mining cave was in the Einbech. The kitchen was a trailer parked close to the entrance of the mine. Anna would have to cook the meals and deliver it to the miners inside the cave.

It was probably a good idea that Nonoko decided to tag along for Anna's first delivery. It turns out the miners were not alone in the caves and no one told them about it. There are occasionally monsters that wonder out from the deeper parts of the caves to attack the humans inside. The miners were use to the monster and knew how to handle them. But it was a rather big surprise for poor Anna and Nonoko.

On Anna's first delivery, a giant ant looking like insect came out of no where and hissed at Anna. It seemed to have smaller insects following it around and they started to attack Anna. Anna's Lif smacked the insects that covered Anna in an attempt to get them off of her. Poor Anna was freaking out since she didn't like insects. Once all the smaller insects that covered Anna were gone she stopped screaming and calmed down a bit. However killing all the smaller insects only angered the giant ant. Anna was about to run away when a bottle of acid was thrown over her head and shattered right on the ant. When Nonoko heard Anna scream she stopped gathering samples and ran over to find Anna covered in bugs and the giant ant about to attack her. It was a good thing Nonoko had her cart with her so she reached inside for an acid bottle and threw it at the monster.

Nonoko's Vanil casted firebolt onto the ant effectively burning its legs to stop it from moving. Since both Anna and Nonoko were afraid of getting too close to the bug, Nonoko just grabbed a small bomb and throws it at the bug. When the bottle exploded, it caused some of the rocks above the ant to fall down onto it effectively killing it.

After the explosion, several miners came running to where they were. The girls got scolded for doing something so dangerous. Setting off explosives without planning can cause unexpected cave-ins and they could have killed themselves. But seeing how the girls were so shaken they stopped after a firm warning. They also went over the different monsters they will tend to find in here so they girls will not be surprised again. After that, they took their food and left. From then on, Nonoko always went with Anna when she had to deliver food. That way the two of them can battle together against anything that decides to pop up.

They were so glad to leave the city when their assignment was done. They did not enjoy being in that city. The only thing keeping them sane was each other and the fields outside of the city where they can enjoy some fresher air. All the dirty air wasn't good for their health or their skin. On the bright side, Nonoko seemed to have developed a really good face cleanser that she might be able to sell to earn money.

As the gang increased the level of their guild, they were able to recruit more people. With more people helping out, they were able to level their guild even faster and do more activities.

Everyone who joined the guild got along with each other very well. It was like they're a big happy family. But as the guild grew, it became more apparently that they need their own place. Ji-Chan didn't mind having all the adventurers come and go using their house as the headquarters. In fact he quite enjoyed it; it was like living the adventurer's life all over again for him. But as much as Ji-Chan enjoyed having everyone around, their house was just not enough to accommodate the needs of the guild. A lot of the guild members right now are staying at the inn or living with their family if they're in town. The guild really needs to buy their own place to use as their head quarters or participate and win a castle at the games. Winning a castle is preferred as they'll be able to live together cutting costs for guild members. On top of that, treasures that are rewarded to guilds for winning castles will help their guild funds. With that goal in mind, the guild continues to work hard on gaining levels for the guild, gaining fighting experience and recruiting more people.

* * *

Blah so much content...

I hope it wasn't too confusing...but WOE is a major part of the game. Many people still play the game b/c of the WOE and PVP components of the game.

I got the mining job idea from another fic I read before in the ragnarok section...sadly she never finished the story...I modified the idea a bit to not copy anyone.

Anna's reaction is taken from me since I'm terrified of insects _ it's so sad...but I am..they just freak me out...so creepy crawly...~shiver~

Anyways...hopefully I can get more action into the next one...

some NxM action I hope :) heehee

cheers


	35. Mikan's Feelings

Sorry this one took so long to write

Been really busy with a lot of random events that has been happening.

So this is an extra long chapter...I think this should really be 2 chapters...but here it is all in 1

I was actually writing the chapter after this one...and then I realize there was something missing...so I stopped and wrote this one lol

So this was totally unplanned until i realized I never really showed how Mikan feels.

In the past chapters she would worry about people, etc...but nothing to really show who she likes...well maybe a little bit but yeah...so this is dedicated to developing that :)

* * *

Months have passed since they first created the guild. Through hard work, they were able to increase their guild capacity to the full capacity of 56 people.

Since they now have room in the guild for more people, they are currently trying to recruit new members. They have postings on the bulletin board looking for people with experience and would want to participate in War of Emperium (WoE). Interested people would fill out an application and submitted it to the guild for review. If Hotaru and Yuu are not out training, they're busy reviewing applications and interviewing people for recruitment. If all goes well at the interview, the new recruit would be invited into the guild for a trail phase. During this trail, the new member can see if they like the guild and the guild gets to see how well the new member fits in.

Hotaru had asked Mikan specifically to welcome the new comers since she was very good with people. So Mikan had been busy showing different people around the guild and introducing them to everyone. She would help them get involved in different guild events and generally hang out with them. Mikan seemed to have done a good job showing off their guild because many of the people end up joining their guild officially after the trail period was over. But because of her assigned job, she wasn't able to help out on any guild missions. She was also having difficulties finding time to train as she's so busy with the new recruits.

Tonight was Mikan's night off to relax. She had retired to her room early to rest but her light was still on and it's getting close to midnight. Hotaru decided to drop in to see how she was doing.

"Hey, why are you still awake?" Hotaru asked as she pushed the door open gently.

"Hey Hotaru." Mikan responded.

Hotaru stepped into her room and saw that Mikan was sitting by her window looking outside.

"Why are you still up? I thought you were tired today and went to sleep early." Hotaru asked again.

"I'm tired but I couldn't fall asleep. So I'm just trying to relax." Mikan responded as she stretched her arms out in front of her.

"Is there a reason why you couldn't sleep?" Hotaru probed.

"I don't know. I just feel so restless." Mikan answered.

"Are you over worked? I could ask Koko or Anna to help out with the new members."

"I don't think I'm over worked but some help would be nice. But then I would feel bad if someone else helps me because everyone else has been going on missions except for me. I feel so useless when everyone else is out on missions while I hang around home." Mikan said softly.

"You're not useless. What you're doing is really important. We really need to get people interested in our guild and you're helping our recruitment a lot." Hotaru told her.

"But I want to help with missions as well. I mean, everyone else gets to do it. It helps the guild and it helps them in training. I haven't really been able to train very much since people just want to relax when they're back from missions. I feel like I'm getting left behind while everyone else is gaining more experience." Mikan pointed out.

Hotaru sighed then she suggested, "Why don't you go set up training parties with the new recruits when you're showing them what the guild is about. Adventure parties are usually a good way to get someone interested in the guild. That way you're still getting people interested in the guild and you get training in."

"That is true. I could do that." Mikan said thoughtfully as she thought of the possibilities.

"Many people like to party with priests for training purposes. It seems like you're quite popular amongst the new guys too." Hotaru teased her.

Mikan blushed, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not that good. I'm sure they would rather party with one of the high priests in the guild now that they're there."

"I'm sure a couple of the guys would much rather party with you then the high priests just to get to know you better." Hotaru continued to tease her.

"I wonder why he never takes me with him on missions then." Mikan muttered softly as she looks outside the window.

Even though Mikan said that under her breath, Hotaru was still able to hear it and smirked. "You're not really restless because you're not given any guild missions are you?"

"Why would you say that, Hotaru?"

"You're restless because he's still out on a mission and you don't know how he's doing. If anything, you just want to go on missions just to be with him to make sure he's ok." Hotaru pointed out.

Mikan started to blush and tried to deny it, "I don't know what or who you're talking about."

"Mikan, you're blushing. I think that's proof enough for me that you know exactly what I'm talking about. I've known you since we were in diapers. I can see right through you."

"Then maybe you would be able to tell me what this feeling is. I'm always so worried about him whenever he goes off on missions. The smallest things he does for me makes me super happy. I feel like it's my personal goal to make him smile, to make him happy." Mikan stated while looking at Hotaru innocently.

"Do you have butterflies in your stomach when you're around him?"

Mikan nods, "At first I didn't, but lately my heart has been beating faster whenever he's around. When he's not around, my mind seems to wonder to him more and more."

"And how do you feel around someone like Ruka? He seems like everyone's definition of Prince Charming. Blond hair, blue eyes, always nice and courteous."

"Well I really enjoy Ruka's company, but it's different. The butterflies are not there when I'm with him. Actually now that I think about it, the butterflies are only there when I'm with Natsume."

"Remember those stories my mother use to read to us when we're little. Fairytales about princesses and their princes."

"Yes, usually the prince would come and rescue the princess and they would live happily every after."

"Remember why they would live happily ever after?"

"Well the princess would fall in love with the prince after he saves her." Mikan responded and then she gasped.

_Was she in love with Natsume?_ Mikan asked herself.

Hotaru looked at her with knowing eyes. "Don't hurt yourself thinking about it. Just follow what your instinct tells you. You know, in the last report I got from him, he said he'll be coming home today."

Mikan looked at her thankfully.

"Why don't you wait for him in his room so you can check on his injuries when he comes back?" Hotaru suggested.

"Thanks Hotaru" Mikan said as she hugged her.

Then Mikan left her own room to go to Natsume's to wait for him to come home.

"I better have a chat with him when he comes back to ensure that he'll take good care of that baka." Hotaru made a memo to herself as she left Mikan's house to go back to her own.

Some time later that night, a sleeping figure could be seen on Natsume's bed.

It seems like Mikan had fallen asleep while waiting for Natsume to come home. She was sleeping on top of his bed curled up into a ball and shivering. She didn't expect to fall asleep so she is now sleeping on top of the bed rather then under the covers.

Natsume was exhausted from his mission. He had intended to come home earlier but something last minute delayed his returned. He was actually thinking about staying an extra day in Juno but a nagging feeling made him travel at night to go home as soon as he could.

When he slipped through the window into his room, he noticed a sleeping figure on his bed. He tried to quietly move around in the room without waking up that person but he stumbled due to his injuries.

His rather clumsy movement seemed to have woken up the intruder in his room.

The person rubbed their eyes before looking at him.

"Natsume?" A sleepy voice called out.

He instantly relaxed knowing that it wasn't an enemy but tried to step out of the moonlight into the shadow so she wouldn't see his injuries.

But his efforts were futile. Mikan had gotten out of bed and is walking towards him.

Before she reached him she slipped and fell onto the ground.

"Owiee," She complained while she slowly pushed herself off her behind and onto her knees. Then she felt something wet on the floor and looked down at her hands.

_Blood _She thought.

"Natsume! You're injured!" Mikan exclaimed as she quickly pushed herself off the floor and rushed towards him.

"It's just a small injury. It's ok. I just have to sleep it off." Natsume claimed while trying to get rid of her.

"No let me see! There's blood on the floor so it couldn't have been small." Mikan retorted back as she grabbed a hold of his arm.

She dragged him back in line with the window so she could take a good look at him in the moonlight.

Once he was out of the shadow she saw a huge gash on his left arm that was just hanging at his side. The wound on his arm was still bleeding quite a bit and dripping blood onto the floor.

"Omg, how can you say that it's nothing? Here, let me heal it." Mikan commanded as she moved her hands to gently wrap around his left arm.

Natsume didn't say anything nor move and let Mikan use her healing spells on him.

Once Mikan was finished with his arm, the bleeding had stopped and the wound disappeared. But he felt a little light headed and took a small stumble forward.

Mikan helped support him to stand still. "I can heal your wounds but I can't help your blood lost. You must have lost a good amount of blood before you got home." She scolded him as she helped him to his bed.

Once Natsume was in his bed Mikan went to clean up the blood on the floor. She looked at Natsume and sighed, "Now it's your turn. Lets' get you out of those bloody clothes."

"You just want to see me naked." Natsume teased her when she was helping him out of his shirt.

Mikan turned ten shades of red. "I just don't want you getting your bed dirty. I'm the one that has to clean up after you, you know."

"Well it's already dirty since I'm already lying on it. So it doesn't really matter anymore if I get out of my dirty clothes or not. And I'll help you clean tomorrow. I have a day off." Natsume told her.

Mikan sighed as she tossed his shirt onto the ground. He was right. It's already too late to try to keep the bed clean since he's already resting. She was just about to get off the bed to leave and go back to her room when his hand reached out and grabbed her wrist.

She turned back and tilted her head to look at him with questions in her eyes.

_She looks so cute like that_ he thought before tugging her arm to send her flying towards him into his bed.

He wrapped his healed arm around her and said, "Stay with me. I don't want anyone to see you walking around in that."

Mikan looked up at him with wide eyes and blushed. She looked down at what she was wearing and realized that she was wearing short shorts and a tight tank top as her sleep wear tonight.

She silently nodded and tried to adjust herself into a comfortable position.

Her heart was beating so fast and loud she wondered if he could hear it.

Her head ended up using his chest as her pillow.

She could feel his breath slow down to a rhythmic pattern that signalled he's asleep.

His steady heartbeat lull her into a deep sleep.

_The next Morning_

The sunlight shined right through the window and slowly creeped up on the two people sleeping in bed.

Mikan eventually woke up because the sun was shining so brightly in her eyes.

She yawned and tried to stretch before opening her eyes but found that her movements were restrained.

She opened her eyes only to see Natsume's sleeping face.

She closed her eyes and rubbed them again before opening them to see if she was still dreaming.

She opened her eyes again and Natsume was still there. The memories of last night dawned on her. She blushed again now well aware of what she's wearing and her closeness with Natsume.

She also remembered what she was talking about with Hotaru last night.

She looked at Natsume's sleeping face and wondered how he could look like such an angel when he was sleep. She gently caressed his face with her hand while studying his peaceful state. How she wished he could always be so stress free. A sudden urge for her to kiss him crossed her mind. She couldn't help but wonder how it would feel like to kiss him. Would it be like the fairytales when the prince would kiss the princess?

It almost felt like a need to find out. She slowly pushed herself higher so her face was at the same level as his and she gently touched her lips to his.

The moment her lips touched his, electricity ran through her body. The feeling surprised her so much that she jolted. Her sudden movement seemed to have woken up Natsume as he started to stir in bed.

Natsume opened his eyes slowly only to find Mikan beside him in bed. "What time is it?" He asked groggily.

"I don't know, I just woke up myself too." Mikan responded.

Natsume lifted up his hand to his face to look at the communicator on his wrist.

The time on his communicator showed 7:46AM. "It's still early" he mumbled, "Go back to sleep." He commanded as he closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Mikan and pulled her close.

Mikan was once again shocked by his actions and did nothing to stop him.

_Maybe I am in love with Natsume _Mikan thought to herself as she slowly closed her eyes again and drifted off into dreamland.

After Natsume's day of rest he didn't have any more missions for a while. Hotaru and Yuu had left the guild in his hands while they're trying to finish off their training so they can transcend before their first WoE.

Natsume wasn't very happy with the task left for him to do. He wasn't a people person and dealing with the guild can be a handful. He was glad that the guild had finished recruitment so he didn't have to conduct any interviews and recruit any more people.

Chances are he would probably scare them away from the guild.

Today was just like the previous days since they left the guild to Natsume. He was so busy looking after the paper work that he doesn't have time to do anything else. Not only does he have to assign missions to various guild members, he had to start planning for the up coming WoE as well. If they were to stick with their original plan, they're going to participate in their first WoE in about a month's time. He has to organize the training schedules in the fighting arena and start getting people to prepare mentally for the games. But for the time being until they're ready for the hand to hand combat training, Ruka has been helping him by organizing parties to go into various parts of Midgard to fight against monsters. That way at least they're still gaining some sort of fighting experience even though fighting against people is very different from fighting against monsters. However any type of training will help the members sharpen their skills to be ready for WoE.

Natsume sighed as he placed the paper he was reading down on his desk. So much to do, so little time.

That's when a cup of hot coffee was place on the desk in front of him.

He looked up to find Mikan smiling warmly at him.

Her smile seemed to take his tension away.

"You seem stressed. Is there anything I can help you with?" She asked gently while moving around him to the back of his chair and started massaging his temples.

Natsume reclined back into his chair and enjoyed the touch of Mikan's hand. He decided to tease her, "I think you would do more damage then help."

"Hey! I can help the guild too you know! Just because I was never sent on missions doesn't mean I wasn't being helpful to the guild. Hotaru said I was a great help in recruitment. Especially with getting more guys into the guild."

Natsume growled at the last statement. Yes he read the recruitment reports. He wasn't happy about the fact that Mikan was attracting a lot of guys into the guild. It's good thing the guild actually needed people like them or else Natsume would have kicked them out.

Natsume snapped out of his thoughts when Mikan hit him lightly on the shoulder, "Hey are you listening to me?"

"Yeah yeah, you were great at recruiting people."

"I said that like 5 minutes ago. I was talking about how I would like to go out and get some more experience in combat now that I don't have to hang around here to do recruiting all the time." Mikan repeated herself.

"You can talk to Ruka about that. He's been organizing parties to go out to different places."

"Yeah but they seem to be so far advance. I would feel safer going to an easier place right now. You know, to get back into things slowly. But I don't know who's available to go with me. Maybe I could just ask one of the new guys that joined."

Natsume seemed to have tensed up at Mikan's last sentence.

"Hey you said you wanted to help the guild right?" Natsume asked.

"Yeah! I want to help the guild." Mikan confirmed.

"Good, you'll come with me to Amatsu."

"Amatsu? Why there?"

"You said you wanted to help the guild."

Mikan nodded again.

"Well there's mission that involves going to Amatsu. Someone requires assistant to get to the shrine outside of Amatsu. It's a dangerous path since it's out in the wild and monsters are lurking. So we'll go and help him get to the shrine. This way you get to help the guild like you wanted to and it will help slowly ease you back into working out in the field." Natsume stated rationally.

"Don't you have to be around to handle the guild?" Mikan asked.

"Don't worry about it. This week's work has all been assigned. I can take the work I have to do for Woe with us on the trip."

"Really? Oh thank you so much Natsume." Mikan said as she hugged him from behind.

Natsume looked down and pretend to be reading again to hide his blush, "Go get ready. I'll come get you in an hour."

_Later that day_

Natsume and Mikan met up with the merchant in Alberta that wanted to go to the shrines.

They took a boat from Alberta that travels to Amatsu. It takes several hours to get there but it's the only form of transportation since they couldn't find a priest that had the warp. Mikan started chatting with their client during the boat ride. It turns out, the merchant's wife was pregnant and he wanted to go to the shrines of his ancestral home to pray for good fortune. But the path to the shrines has lots of monsters so he had to hire bodyguards to help him get there. Mikan thought it was very sweet of him to do something like that for his unborn child and happily chatted with him the whole trip.

Once they stepped off the boat in Amatsu, Mikan couldn't help but gape at the surroundings. It was absolutely beautiful with the sakura trees in full blossom. She could even see the castle from the dock and it looked amazing. (Amatsu is actually based on ancient Japan so think of something like Kyoto with castle and temples). Their client chuckled at Mikan's reaction and decided to take them on a tour around the town as they walk towards the northern town exit to go to the shrines. As they walked through the market place, Mikan spotted a pretty pair of hair ribbons in one of the vendor stalls. She had her eye on it the whole time they were passing by and made it quite obvious that she was interested in them. Sadly she didn't stop to buy it as she saw the price of the ribbons. It was something she couldn't afford as she's been donating all her money towards the guild.

Once they were outside the town they were in a pretty bamboo forest. It was like a scene right out of a movie. As they walked through the peaceful forest, they heard rustles nearby. Natsume readied his weapons as Mikan casted buffs on the entire party. The rustling got closer and the merchant got more nervous. Then an umbrella popped out of the bushes. Mikan stared at it in confusion while the merchant wiped off the sweat on his forehead in relief.

"Oh it's just a Karakasa. It's a harmless creature. They're actually quite useful when it rains because you can use them as umbrellas." The Merchant explained to the two of them.

Mikan decided that she wanted to examine this creature that looked like an umbrella and walked towards it. She hesitantly put her hand on its' folds and stroked it. The Karakasa immediately opened up like how an umbrella would scaring Mikan and caused her to fall on the ground in surprised. Natsume looked at her with amusement while the Merchant chuckled. The Karakasa twirled around then floated off into the trees on the other side of the path.

They continued to walk to the shrine meeting different types of monsters along the way. Most of them were passive and did not bother the group but the Kaphas found by the water were not very welcoming. The Kaphas were quite territorial and did not like people entering their territory. However the only way to the shrine is through their area as the Shrine was built at the edge of the water on the north side of the lake.

As they're walking towards the shrine through the water, the Kaphas swung their fishing poles at the group and tried to run them off their territory. Natsume fought back as Mikan supported from behind. As Natsume is pressing forward, a Kapha came up from behind. Mikan heard it last minutely and turned around just in time to see the monster getting ready to take a swing at her. She immediately held up her buckler to block the in coming blow. The buckler blocked the direct attack but the fishing pole is very flexible and wrapped around the buckler and was able to hit Mikan's wrist. It was not very painful as her buckler blocked the direct hit but it's something to be noted as the pole can easy cause damage even if you block the direct hit if you're not careful. She pushed the monster back and called out to Natsume for help.

Natsume came over just as the monster was about to attack Mikan again and blocked the blow for her with his daggers. He used his other dagger and sliced the pole in half and growled menacingly at the Kapha. The Kapha was mad that his precious rod got broken and gave out a high pitch screech and charged at Natsume with his broken rod in hand.

Natsume side stepped and hit the Kapha at the back of its' neck knocking it unconscious.

When they finally got to the shrine, the merchant went off to pray. Natsume sat down somewhere close to the entrance to keep guard while Mikan gave Natsume a quick check up to make sure no serious damage was obtained during their fight. Once she was finished the check up and sat down beside him and looked out at the water surrounding them. She found several Kaphas hanging around but they don't seem to come any closer then 10 feet of the building.

"That's weird, if this is the Kapha's territory, why is the shrine safe? Why don't they come any closer?"

"I don't know." Natsume answered.

"Ah, that's because there's a magical barrier protecting the shrine." A new voice answered.

Mikan and Natsume turned around to look at who was speaking to them.

They saw the merchant walking towards them with an elderly monk beside him.

The monk then continued, "You see, there's a holy stone inside this building that protects this building. When this shrine was built many centuries ago, the Kapha's were not here. But one year something happened at the imperial palace. A huge amount of magic force originated from the palace and it affected everything in the surrounding area. It seemed like some of the creatures that lived here got affected by that magical force and changed. The Kaphas use to be turtles that live in the water here. But after that incident, they mutated to a human like form. Lucky for our shrine, the holy stone protected the shrine and everything inside."

Mikan listen tentatively while Natsume started looking around the shrine to examining it.

"Now that you're done here, would you like a warp back to town?" The monk asked the group.

The merchant answered yes for the group and the monk opened up a warp for them.

They gave their thanks and entered into the warp.

Once they stepped out of the warp, they were inside the town of Amatsu again.

Natsume figured this is probably the preferred form of transportation for the monk when he needed to get supplies for the shrine. He can't image the elderly monk fighting the Kaphas on his way back to the shrine with supplies in tow.

Since it was getting late, the last ship back to Alberta has already left. The group decided to stay in Amutsu for the night instead of taking Mikan's warp back to Prontera and using the Karfa services to get to Alberta. The merchant took them to a famous sushi bar to introduce them to the local food. Mikan was so distracted chatting with the merchant and sushi bar owner she didn't notice when Natsume slipped away after dinner.

When she finally noticed his missing presence she decided to go look for him. She excused herself and left the restaurant to look for her missing companion.

She used the map option on her communicator to track down Natsume. She found him sitting below a lone sakura tree up on a little hill. She walked up the hill to the tree, knelt down beside him and poked him.

"Why did you leave without saying anything? It's rude of you to do that you know." Mikan scolded.

"You're interrupting my peace, Polka. You were so noisy at dinner I needed to get away for some peace and quiet."

"Why you!" Mikan said angrily while crossing her arms across her chest and puffing her checks.

"You know it's not right to flirt with a married man."

"I was not flirting. I was just being friendly!" Mikan said defensively.

"Well don't be so friendly with everyone. You never know their true intentions."

Mikan sighs and settles into the spot beside Natsume.

"That's a beautiful sun set." She said in awe while looking at the pretty sky before them.

"Hn. Not as pretty as you." Natsume whispered the last part.

Mikan didn't hear what he said but knew he mumbled something so she turned to face Natsume and asked, "What did you say?"

"Nothing important. Here open this." Natsume replied while placing a box in her lap.

Mikan looked at it with sparkles in her eyes and excitedly opened her present.

When she opened it she found the ribbons she was looking at that morning. (they're called small ribbons in game. It's a middle headgear. You can probably google it)

"Oh thank you so much Natsume. How did you know I wanted this!" Mikan said while hugging him in thanks.

Natsume looked away while trying to hide his blush, "You were looking at them and drooling this morning when we passed the stall. So I stopped to pick them up for you."

"I was not drooling."

"Were too."

"Was not"

"Were too"

"Was not!"

"You did and you were drooling just now when you saw it."

Mikan's hand immediately went to her face to check for drool.

Natsume chuckled and took the ribbons out of her other hand.

"Here let me help you." He said while he took a ribbon and reached for her hair.

Mikan was shocked that Natsume would do something like this and sat as still as a statue.

Natsume took the locks of hair right behind her ear and tied a ribbon there.

He did the same to both sides and then sat back and looked at her and said, "Perfect"

Mikan blushed under his intense stare. "I didn't know you knew how to work with girl's hair accessory."

"I had to take care of my younger sister since we were young." Natsume reminded her.

"Oh right. Thanks again Natsume." Mikan said while flashing him her famous smile.

Then Natsume stood up and started walking down the hill.

"Come on, it's getting dark. Let's go back to the inn."

Mikan got up and scurried along to catch up to Natsume who was already walking in the directions of the inn.

* * *

I hope this chapter was ok...when writing about Ragnarok...sometimes I feel like it can go on forever b/c it's really just one adventure after an other

I hope to get the next chapter up in a week or 2...i think the next one will be it...

please review :)

thanks!


	36. WoE

Hey guys,

I thought I was gonna get this up earlier but when I realized I had to rewrite some of it b/c of the previous chapter I gave up and decided to wait until after my exam...which was today :) YAY

So sorry for the wait. This chapter might be a little confusing...it's very game based and sometimes hard to describe. I'm just so use to some of these terms b/c I played the game and I might not realize that I'm not explaining them very well

I hope it's not too confusing

* * *

As the days draw closer to their first plan War games, the guild's training schedule became more intense.

Currently, Mikan is working non stop healing her guildmates that outside the fighting arena.

The rest of the guild is inside the arena training and learning how to fight against people. They're learning what skills to use against each class and tactics to help give them the upper hand in fighting.

The fighting arenas are safe places to learn how to fight against other people as there's magic casted there so no one can be killed.

The moment you faint, you will be transported out of the arena right away.

Mikan is stationed at the spot where you would be transported to when you faint.

She's healing the people who have fainted so they can go in again and train some more.

The other guild priests are inside the arena. The priests are taking turns manning the station outside the arena so everyone gets a chance to learn how to support during battle. This training is very crucial as fighting against monsters is very different from fighting against people.

The next body that appeared in front of Mikan shocked her. It was Natsume!

She didn't expect to see him here as he's the one conducting what's going on inside the arena.

She quickly casted heals on him and examined him for any serious wounds.

"I'm surprised to see you here." Mikan said to him as he opened his eyes.

"I was a little careless and got hurt."

"That's not like you." Mikan replied as she continued her examination with Natsume watching her every move.

"Hn, it happens." Natsume muttered under his breath.

That's when Hotaru walked into the room they were in.

"He lost his cool with he heard some guy talking about you." Hotaru told her.

Mikan looked at Hotaru then back to Natsume.

Natsume looked away from Mikan to hide his blush.

His reaction caused Hotaru to smirk.

"Why would he do that?" Mikan tilted her head and asked cutely.

"Why don't you ask him?" Hotaru replied clearly enjoying the situation.

"Natsume, that's not like you to loose it." Mikan probed him.

"Hn" Natsume replied and got up and headed out the room.

"I need to go back to make sure they're not slacking." He told her and left the room in a hurry to avoid answering the question.

Hotaru walked to Mikan and sat beside her.

"How are you doing?" she asked.

"Not too bad now. They seem to be fainting less so things in the Arena must be getting better. I think it's almost time for Aki to come and switch with me." She replied.

Hotaru nodded.

"How goes your training? You and Yuu just transcended not long ago."

"We're still working on learning our new skills. Yuu went inside the arena already to try out some of the new ones he just learnt. There's still a couple more I would like us to master before we start War of Emperium."

"I can't believe we've gotten so far. Just a couple more days before the date we planned to start participating in the games." Mikan stated.

"Yes, we really need to get a castle though. The treasures that you win will help us a lot for our guild funds. Not to mention having a proper head quarters and a place where everyone could stay would be ideal." Hotaru reminded her.

"Yeah, but it's so much work to keep on fighting at every game so we can keep the place. If we don't win, then we get kicked out and we'll be back at square one. No place to live." Mikan pointed out.

"Well if we were rich enough, we could buy a large place to be used as guild headquarters. But as I mentioned, we're really struggling in the funds area so this will be the best thing we can do for now. Plus a lot of people like the Games."

"I don't. I don't like fighting against other people. It's so savage." Mikan sighed.

Hotaru sighs and pat's Mikan on the back. "I know you don't like it, but we really need it."

"I know, I know. I'll do it for the guild." Mikan answered softly.

"Thanks Mikan. I'm going to go in to check up on everyone. I'll see you soon inside." Hotaru said to her as she went to the Arena keeper to get warped inside.

_~Their First Woe~_

The guild had decided to try and win a castle in the Valkyrie Realm since it was just outside the town of Prontera. This way they can be close to the busiest city and it's close to Ji-chan's house. Everyone had grown attached to Prontera and Ji-Chan since they joined the guild.

Before participating in their first WoE, Natsume had gone scouting during the games to learn more about the fighting ground and how each area can be used. He also took notes on who owned each castles and their fighting style. He used all this information to determine which guild they would be able to over power to steal the castle from them.

Once he had all the information, he drilled everyone to memorize the map and specific locations where they would be stationed. Everyone was given specific jobs to carry out during the game.

When WoE started, the guild did not go attack right away. They decided to wait for the perfect time to attack so they do not waste their limited resources.

Several assassin and rogues including Natsume were hiding inside the castle to spy on what's happening inside.

They watched the other guilds fight amongst each other while waiting for the perfect opportunity for their own guild to come in and take over.

Close to half way through the games, both defending and attacking guilds seem to be at their weakest points.

Natsume quickly told the priests to buff and warp everyone to the castle area. Once they got out of the warp and stood outside the castle, they charged in and rushed to the third floor which is right before the Emperium room. They rushed in as a group and took down anyone that was in their way.

Once gathered outside the Emperium room, the magic users started casting spells behind the group in case any other guild comes in from behind.

The priests all recasted their supportive spells on everyone while Tsubasa used his skill Battle Chant to help give different types of support effect to the people surrounding him.

They waiting for Tsubasa's skill to help decrease Hotaru's casting time to zero before they charged in.

Once Hotaru felt the power surge through her to allow her to instantly cast magic she gave the signal for the attack to begin.

The knights and crusaders went in first as the front line taking down people with physical attack. Once the dance team that stopped people from using spells was gone Hotaru quickly went through the door and instantly casted Storm Gust freezing those who are not immune. Lunae worked quickly and efficiently to attack the defending guild.

Natsume rushed through the people and went straight for the Emperium.

The other assassins followed him and fought the people in their way. Their job was to protect Natsume as he focused solely on taking down the Emperium.

If anyone fainted and was sent back to town, Mikan would be at the save point waiting for them. She would heal them and send them right back into battle.

When a huge crack started appearing on the Emperium, Natsume stopped hitting it and quickly surveyed the situation around him.

It seems like most of the enemy in the room has been taken care of. Just a couple more and they would all be gone. His precast team has already set up in their assigned spot and casting on the door to enter into the Emperium room to stop any enemies from coming in.

He saw a knight from an opposing guild head towards his precast team to attack them only to be stopped by Misaki's Guillotine Fist skill. The knight instantly dropped and was teleported out of the room.

After watching that, Natsume decided not to break the Emperium at this point in time since everything was under control. They would hostage the Emperium and only break it when needed. This way they have more choices for what to do if someone does break through their defence.

Once the room was secure, the assassin and rogues went back out onto the other levels to scout.

They also assisted any team members who fainted and were having a hard time trying to fight to get back to the Emperium room get there.

Since they have the Emperium under control, after warpping everyone back to the castle, Mikan stepped into the warp as well. Mikan rushed her way into the Emperium room to help support her guildmates in there.

About 10 minutes left in the allotted time for the games, the fighting intensified.

The enemy guild was pushing hard as they wanted their castle back.

They broke through Lunae's precast area and were fighting head on with the melee characters. (A/N remember this was the area right in front of the door where the magic users were casting their spells)

Some of the enemy got past Lunae's melee fighters as they were already preoccupied and went straight to the precast team. Tsubasa had used his skill sacrifice on the precast and was taking in all the damage for them. Mikan tried her best to heal Tsubasa but the enemy was causing too much damage.  
The precast team tried their best to get rid of the enemy in their midst but they weren't able to do so before Tsubasa fainted. Once Tsubasa fainted, the enemy was able to hurt the members of the precast team sending them back to town as well.

The melee in the precast was able to cause a couple of the wizards to faint before Yuu and Hotaru were able to get rid of them.

While everyone else was busy fighting Natsume watched from the Emperium platform. Since the fight wasn't going their way and more then half their guild has been defeated, he started to hit the crack on the Emperium. Misaki was itching to go up and help her guildmates but she was assigned to guard Natsume in case someone else comes to attack the Emperium while he's trying to break it. Misaki was getting frustrated not being able to help her guildmates growled and started walking towards the stairs.

Just as she started moving she heard Natsume swore really loudly. She turned around to see an assassin from the enemy guild also attacking the Emperium. She rushed towards that assassin and body slammed him into the wall. If the other assassin was able to be the last one to hit the Emperium before it breaks then the castle will belong to them instead of Lunae.

Misaki straddled the assassin and vented out her frustrations by beating him until he fainted. Once the assassin was gone, she stood up and saw more enemy coming towards them. She charge head on at the monk that was heading towards them and punched him in the face knocking him unbalanced. She continued to combo her punches together until he stumbled backwards. But he didn't faint yet. The monk grab a potion and healed himself and was fighting back. Misaki called on her spirit balls and threw it at him knocking him back several steps and disorienting him. Seeing a chance, she used her final attack on him draining all her spiritual energy. The Monk fainted after she attacked but Misaki did not have a chance to rest. Several new enemy guild members are rushing down the stairs towards the Emperium.

Meanwhile Natsume kept hitting the Emperium trying to break it. The crack go bigger and bigger. Just as Misaki was being over powered by the knights and blacksmiths that are attacking her, the Emperium shattered under Natsume's dagger. Instantly anyone who was not a member of Lunae was teleported out of the castle to their save point inside the city. An announcement was heard on the speaker system, "Lunae has conquered Valkyrie 1."

Immediately, Natsume ordered anyone who was still in town to hurry back into the castle. Everyone was to report to their post in the Emperium room.

This was their chance to rush back into the castle before the enemy could get in again.

They had to get back into their positions to be ready for the next enemy attack.

There was 5 minutes left so there's still a slight possibility that someone can get through.

Most of Lunae was able to get back into the Emperium room and set up a proper defence before enemy started to come in.

Several people who were slower in getting back to the castle were caught up in the rush with the enemy. Since they knew the chances of getting back into the Emperium Room was slim, they tried their best to slow down the enemy guild from reaching the Emperium Room.

Just as the enemy was about to break through their precast again, announcements could be heard signalling the end of WoE.

Natsume looked back and saw that the Emperium has disappeared.

The guild members of Lunae started celebrating their victory as the opposing guild just teleported back out.

Natsume sat down on the ground taking in his surrounding. His heart was still pounding with adrenaline and his mind was still trying to grasp the fact that they had manage to win.

Mikan can be seen happily talking and hugging her guildmates and celebrating along with everyone in the Emperium room.

Natsume watched her while their guildmates came to congratulate him for leading them to victory.

His eyes narrowed when their male guildmates would hug her.

He knows everyone is happy and celebrating but he couldn't help but feel jealous.

Yuu's voice interrupted his thoughts, "Guys I just want a moment to say something. First I want to say congratulations to everyone, our hard work has paid off. This will be the first of many victories to come. A special thanks to Natsume to leading us to victory. Now that today's game is done, everyone can go explore the castle and pick the room they would like to make their own. Just remember, in order to stay in this castle we will have to continue to fight in WoE and win the fight in this castle every time. So guys, keep up the training. I'll post up the training schedule for the next few days in the dining room. Also beside the training schedule will be the room list. Please fill in your name so we know which room is taken. That's it for the announcements. Everyone is dismissed, see you later."

After Yuu's announcement, people began to file out of the emperium room excitedly to go look for a room to claim as their own.

Natsume lingered behind watching everyone leave.

Mikan wasn't as excited as everyone else about picking out a room for herself so she hung back letting everyone else goes first.

Then she noticed Natsume also hanging around in the room.

She happily skips towards him calling him in a singing tone, "Natsume!"

"Congratulations! We won because of your plan." Mikan said excitedly while she wrapped her arms around him for a hug and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

Natsume was stunned by her action and looked at her with wide eyes.

Mikan realized what she had just done when she saw Natsume's reaction so she quickly let go of him and looked at the ground blushing.

"You just kissed me." Natsume whispered in a shocked manner.

"Um…Anyways…why aren't you out picking your room like the others?" Mikan stammered as she tried to divert his attention from what she just did.

"I can ask you the same question."

"Oh, well, I talked to Hotaru about this before. I'll be staying with Ji-Chan even though we have a castle now. I mean, the castle is close enough, I just can't leave Ji-Chan alone all by himself." Mikan replied while still looking at the ground. "Well now I told you my reason, what about you?"

"That will depend on your answer. Now tell me, why did you kiss me?" Natsume probed.

"I um…was overly excited…I didn't mean to…I just…" Mikan stammered.

Natsume raised an eyebrow, "Does that mean you'll go around kissing people just because you were excited."

"NO!" Mikan exclaimed, "I…just…you…" Mikan continued to mutter incoherent words while blushing beet red.

Natsume chuckled at her reaction causing Mikan to stop talking and stared at him with wide eyes.

"You just laughed. I didn't know your mouth was capable of doing that." Mikan stated awestruck.

Natsume place his hand under her chin and smirked, "It can do much more then that."

Then he bent down and his lips met hers.

He kissed her with such gentleness that it sent shivers down her body.

When her brain finally registered what he was doing, she wrapped her arms around and kissed him back.

They broke apart when they finally ran out of breath.

Mikan blushed and shyly looked at the ground.

Natsume puller her against him wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Well, all my stuff is in the guest room in your house. It would be a hassle to move everything here. And really, someone should be living with you to make sure you don't do anything stupid and hurt yourself."

"I'm not stupid! I don't need anyone to baby sit me." Mikan exclaimed.

"Does that mean you're kicking me out?" Natsume asked.

"No," Mikan replied softly, "If you want to stay with me, you're welcome to do so."

Natsume chuckled again and kissed her forehead. "The castle wouldn't be a home to me if you're not there. After all, home is where the heart is at."

Mikan blushed even harder after Natsume's confession. She finally looked up at him and smiled shyly at him. She then went on her tipy toes and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips before responding. "Then anywhere would be home as long as I'm with you."

Natsume was ecstatic when he heard her answer. He picked her up and twirled her around in a circle. Mikan giggled as she held on for dear life.

"Come on, let's head back before dark." Mikan said as she took out a blue gem and opened a warp for them.

Natsume stepped into the warp and so did Mikan.

They appeared in front of Mikan's house and walked together hand in hand into the house.

* * *

I think this will be the end to the main story. If i don't end it now...it will just drag on forever...since RO is a never ending game.

I will put up an epilogue for christmas :)

I hope you guys enjoyed it.

I'll change it to complete status after the christmas special


	37. A Christmas to remember

Hey guys

Merry Christmas! It's especially busy for me with my family and everything around this time of year.

So it was hard to find time to write but I got it out.

I think I'll keep this as a Christmas Special and then maybe write an Epilogue to go after this :)

I hope it's ok as I had to rush this one out

Enjoy

* * *

It's that time of year again! The time that comes only once a year. It's Christmas time!

The towns are decorated with garlands and wreaths and everyone is in the festive mood. The falling snow also provides the extra added atmosphere. Prontera was extra busy this time of year with many people shopping for presents as it has the most amount of vendors.

Mikan finished her shopping several days ago.

She got Hotaru a friendship bracelet.

Yuu a new spell book.

Ruka an Apple of Archer.

Koko an accessory for his pet Deviruchi.

Gift certificates for a spa in Amatsu for Anna, Nonoko and Permy.

A new stuff bear for Youchi which he claims he's too old for.

A pet poring for Aoi to keep her company while she's at school.

Last but not least, she knitted a scarf and mittens for Natsume.

She's been working very hard every day on the scarf and mittens. She hopes that Natsume will like it.

Mikan is currently in her Santa costume delivering gifts to all her friends.

She loves this time of year as everyone seems to be friendlier. She wishes that it could last all year round so people would act like that all year round.

Her Santa costume is a red dress with a white furry lining around the edge. It also has cute wings on the back and matching red boots.

After delivering presents to all her friends, she's now waiting for her boyfriend at their secret spot.

She's while waiting for him she started working on making a small snowman.

A cold wind blew past her and she shivered from the cold. She loved her costume and it's normally enough to keep her warm, but it is a dress after all and it's not really suited for playing out in the snow.

The outfit would have been fine if Natsume was on time. But he's half an hour late now and Mikan is starting to worry.

As she was busy occuping herself with building the snowman and wondering where he was, she didn't notice someone sneaking up behind her.

Two hands suddenly grabbed her shoulder and shook her, "BOO"

Mikan let out a loud screech and jumped in surprise.

The guy let go of her shoulder and hugged her from behind.

"What happened to your sixth sense for detecting me?" A familiar voice whispered huskily into her ears.

When she heard his voice she immediately calmed down. She elbowed him lightly in the guts and replied, "That was so mean! Here I am worried about you since you're so late and you scared the day lights out of me then tease me."

"It didn't look like you were worried. You were busy building your snowman."

"Well I had to find something to do to keep myself occupied. Or else I would try to track you down to make sure you're ok."

"Well you don't have to worry. I'm ok. Sorry for being late. You present was harder to put together then I thought."

"Why do all men go last minute shopping?" Mikan mutter quietly while shaking her head.

"Hey it's not what you think."

"Sureeeee," Mikan teased him.

"Well if you don't want it I don't have to give it to you."

"No wait! I didn't say that."

"Well then, why don't we start with my hello kiss."

Mikan blushed slightly while looking at her snowman in front of her.

"Well I'm waiting." Natsume teased her some more.

Then she slowly turned around to face him and went up on her tipy toes and kissed him softly on the lips.

Natsume couldn't help be grin at the actions of his girl friend. She's so cute and shy no matter how many times they have kissed or hugged, and he loved that about her.

"Now your present is a surprise." Natsume told her while tying a blindfold around her head so she couldn't see anything.

"How will I open the present if I can't see it?" Mikan asked.

"I'll tell you when you can take off the blindfold when it's ready for you to see."

"So it's not ready yet?"

"Stop asking so many questions. You'll understand when you see it. Now lets' go." Natsume said as he intertwined his fingers with hers and pulled her back into the city of Prontera.

Once he got into the gates he motioned to a priest that seemed to be waiting for someone.

The priest walked towards Natsume and opened up a warp for him.

Natsume said his thanks and gently pushed Mikan into the warp before stepping in himself.

Mikan felt her body being pulled and felt the sensation of going through a warp portal. She wanted to take off her blindfold so badly to find out what's going on but she didn't want to ruin Natsume's surprise.

She felt Natsume step out of the warp behind her. Once out of the warp he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You can take off your blindfold now."

Mikan reached up with her hands and removed the blindfold that was covering her eyes.

She blinked a couple of times to readjust to the light and her eyes opened wide at the sight in front of her.

The first thing she saw was the Giant Christmas tree and the falling snow all around.

Then she heard a voice singing Jingle Bells and realized it was the snowman in front of the tree singing.

The snowman waved at Mikan while singing when it noticed Mikan was looking at it.

Mikan happily waved back.

Then she twirled around slowly taking in all the sights around her.

The whole town was completely in the Christmas mood. It seemed more spirited then all the other towns in Rune Midgard.

"Wow." Was all Mikan could exclaim.

Natsume's lips curled up into a small smile while watching at Mikan who is looking around with childish delight.

"I thought bringing you here would be a better gift then any present I could buy." Natsume stated softly.

"This is awesome! Where are we?"

"We're in Lutie., the Christmas town. This is where Santa lives." Natsume stated.

"Hey it's changed since the last time I was here! I couldn't even recognize it." (A/N yeah...I didn't realized I wrote a Christmas Special last year when I wrote this one...sooo I had to make last min adjustments to make it work.)

"Oh so you've been here before. Damn I was hoping it would be your first time." Natsume said disappointedly.

Mikan looks at Natsume when she heard the tone of his voice, "It doesn't matter if I've been here before. I love Christmas so this town is special to me. Plus, it looks like they've changed the town a bit since I was here last time. I don't know where anything is anymore."

Natsume just nods but he's still slightly disappointed. Mikan decides to kiss Natsume on the cheek in attempts to cheer him up.

"Lets go find Santa's house!" Mikan said excitedly before skipping off towards the juggling clown beside the singing snowman.

"Excuse me. Do you know where Santa is?"

"Ah yes, this must be your first time here."

"Not exactly, but it looks like things have changed."

"Ah no problem. Just walk along this path behind me. Keep on going north on it and eventually you'll reach a small cottage. It's about a 15 minute walk from here. You can't miss it. That's Santa's office. He should be in right now." The clown replied.

Mikan thanked the clown and casted an agility spell on Natsume and herself. Then she grabbed Natsume's hand and sped off towards the office.

Once they got to the cottage they were greeted by two workers inside. Looking beyond the workers Mikan found the jolly old man himself in front of the fireplace.

Mikan excitedly walked towards him with a big smile and greeted him, "Hi Santa!"

"Ho ho ho, hello Mikan and Natsume."

Mikan squeels in delight, "Santa remembers my name!"

"Why of course, I do. In fact, I know everyone's name to keep track of who's been naughty and who's been nice."

Mikan just nods as she's star struck being in front of Santa. I don't think she can ever get over this stage every time she meets him.

Then one of the workers came up to the two of them, "Hi, my name is Louise. Would either of you be interested in the new Christmas hat this year?"

Mikan snapped out of her state and looked at Louise, "What sort of hat?"

"This year I'm making a new hat that looks like a Christmas tree. Since you're wearing a Santa costume I would assume you might like the hat."

Mikan nodded, "What do I have to do to make it?"

"Ah bring me back this list of items and I'll make it for you!" (A/N This is a new hat this year, I'm not going to list the items required to make it as it might seem a little weird. Ie cobwebs…lol )

"Ok!"

"Let's go Natsume! I have some of the items stuffed in storage but we need to go get the lights!"

"But I don't want to make the hat."

"Please, for me?" Mikan gave him the puppy face look.

Natsume sighed and nodded as he can never resist that look.

"Just remember to memo outside so you can warp back here." Natsume reminded her.

Mikan nodded, said goodbye to the workers and Santa and stepped outside to memo the location.

Then she opened up another warp to go back to Prontera for her and Natsume.

Once back in town, she went through her Karfa storage to look for all the items needed. Then they headed out to the Coal Mines to look for the specific lanterns that Louise had requested for.

Once all the items have been gathered Mikan warped them back to Lutie and gave the items to Louise.

"Thanks Mikan, it'll be ready in half an hour. Why don't you walk around the town and explore a bit. The hat will be ready for you when you're back."

Mikan nods and walked outside with Natsume. The two of them walked around town and talked to the residence.

"Wow, this town is so cool! I want to live here."

"I would rather not, it's too cold." Natsume replied while tightening his jacketing around him.

Mikan looks at him and then realizes she forgot to give him his present.

"Are you cold? Then you can use my present! Here!" Mikan said while fetching a parcel out of her bag.

Natsume opened the parcel and found a scarf inside with matching mits.

"I made those myself." Mikan stated shyly.

"So that's why you've been hiding in your room after dinner every night." Natsume commented while examining the items. There were a couple of mistakes here and there on the scarf but over all it was fine.

"Not bad for a little girl." He said as he put them on.

Mikan was about to retort but when she saw that he had put on her scarf and mittens she smiled instead.

She gave him a big bear hug, "I hope you like it."

"We'll it is helping with the cold a bit. But I know another way to heat things up." Natsume said seductively.

Mikan blushed and pushed him away muttering pervert.

As they got to the north west corner of the town border she noticed many benches set up before an altar. As they got closer she realized there's a wedding going on and Santa was performing the rites!

When they got to the area a worker explained to them that every Christmas Santa would offer to help conduct weddings for couples who wish to get married in the Lutie outdoor church. Many people travel to Lutie to get married by Santa because it's so special.

You can see the sparkles in Mikan's eyes as the worker explained to them what was happening.

"Would you two also like to apply for a wedding?" She asked.

Mikan blushed deeply while Natsume just looked at her.

"Sure, why not. We're going to get married sooner or later anyways." Natsume replied while Mikan blushed an even deeper red.

"Who told you that? Maybe it won't work out between us." Mikan teased him.

Natsume then snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her into a hug facing him. He stared into her eyes to let her know his sincerity, "I would never let that happen. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you beside me."

Mikan blushed and smiled back at Natsume. "You better keep your word." Then she kissed him on the lips.

They kiss was interrupted when they heard a sigh. Then broke apart and looked at where the sigh came from and saw the wedding worker who was looking at them with a love sick look.

"You guys are so sweet! You will make an excellent married couple." She stated.

"Hn."

"So if you would like to have the wedding, you'll need to have these items: a wedding dress, a tux and two diamond rings. Of course there's a small fee for registration work as well."

"Ah, we don't have any of those items right now." Mikan replied.

"Aw, well maybe later when you're both ready to get married." The worker told them with a disappointed look and walked away to help another couple.

"I guess we'll just have to wait until we're ready." Mikan repeated as they walked away from the church.

When they got back to the cottage Louise presented Mikan with her new hat. It was a small hat in a shape of a Christmas tree. It was very cute but Mikan had a hard time balancing it on her head. In the end she decided to use it as an ornament at home rather then wearing it.

"Thanks for today Natsume. This is the best Christmas ever."

"It's also my best Christmas because it's with you." Natsume replied.

"This is abnormal, you're not normally mushy like this! Are you sick? We should get back home so I can check if you're ok." Mikan started to panic.

Natsume shook his head and chuckled a little. "Hey, you know I was serious about the wedding thing eh."

Mikan stares at him blankly and blinks her eyes. "Eh?"

"You know, when we get everything ready, if you want we can come back here next year and get married by Santa. Or we can get married earlier by a regular priest back home. The earlier the better." Natsume continued.

"Are you proposing?"

"I promise to get you a ring later but will you marry me Mikan?"

Mikan was speechless, first Natsume was acting all mushy which was weird for him, then he talks about marriage and now he's said her real name instead of some stupid nick name; she must have died and gone to heaven!

"Will you Mikan?" He asks again bringing Mikan back into reality.

"YES YES YES!" Mikan exclaimed as she threw herself onto Natsume and tackles him onto the ground in a death grip hug.

Natsume gets the wind knocked out of him as he fell onto the ground with Mikan on top of him but he didn't care. Mikan said yes to him that's all that matters. Now he just has to find a ring to make sure everyone knows she's taken.

"Lets go home" He whispers into her ears.

Mikan let go of Natsume and stood up. Then she opened up a warp for the both of them to go home.

* * *

So guys...what would you like? Christmas wedding or a normal one? :)

Let me know in the reviews...it's open to anonymous replies


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